Once upon a time, long long ago, we navigated with pencil drawings of whomever had traveled on the road we were on. It’s all we had to go on for directions…
Thank goodness we don’t have to rely on the old way of getting information, right?! Advanced technology now allows us to navigate, via global satellite telemetry, on our handy dandy cell phones… or even our car’s onboard navigation system.
Consider our personal journeys in life like navigating a map, of sorts. We start at point A (birth) and are given a map of life with a bunch of confusing scribbles on it. It seems like we’re trying to follow a map we can hardly read, in the hope that our directions will get us to our destination, safely and successfully.
When you choose what you consider to be your destination, then you’re able to choose your directions. You can decide to attempt travel, only using those maps that time can destroy…
Or…
Download an Onboard Navigation System… that’s what I did, and I haven’t gotten lost since!
I had to laugh when I saw this prompt, as it brought up a memory that had been lost to me… so thank you, WordPress!
I swear that I might have been born in the wild, because my earliest memories include riding bareback while still in diapers… ya, I have a mind like a steel trap!
Anyways, camping is something that came naturally to this girl, and so, I passed it on to my children. My daughters have been camping since before they were born, as I freely went camping during my pregnancies. When my girls began to grow, we began traveling with a group of about 4 or 5 other families during the summer months, camping and fishing throughout the great Northwest. From southern Oregon, across Idaho and into Montana, and even into British Columbia.
Needless to say, my family are avid campers, fishers, hikers and hunters! They weren’t always so experienced at this stuff, and it took a great deal of training and practice, especially in the bathroom department, if you know what I mean? I had three girls!
How does one raise a little girl to be a tough camper, and yet still be a little lady? Like I said, we traveled with a huge group of camping families, which meant cooking together, bathing in close proximity to others, and yes, using the restroom in groups, for security! With little ones running around, we grown ups thought it was easiest to make an appropriate code word, to signal our restroom intentions. If one needed to use the restroom, we simply said, “I have to go camping”, and anyone who needed to go, simply agreed to come along.
Now, this went on for nearly an entire summer before one of my girls finally asked, “Mamma, how come the grown-ups keep saying they’re camping and then disappear into the woods?” I explained that it was a polite way of saying that we needed to use the restroom, without saying it in front of others. She didn’t question me further, and seemed not to even understand what I’d said. About a week later, all the families gathered at our home to plan the next upcoming adventure.
There we all were, standing around my kitchen talking, when my daughter marches into the midst of the group and boldly announced, “Everyone, I need to go camping… that means I have to go poop!”
I nearly dropped the plate in my hands! The entire room went silent for a moment, and then erupted into laughter! All of the adults in the room knowing laughed themselves silly, while my daughter marched off to the bathroom. The rest of the day was filled with children running around the house, loudly claiming they needed to camp and then laughing about it!
It seems that anytime a person feels purpose in what they’re doing, productivity should skyrocket!
When you feel that what you do makes some sort of difference, even if it’s small, you want to continue the pursuit.
Are you workin to pay the bills, or is your job going to take you somewhere better, somewhere worth going?
Whatever your purpose might be… pursue it with all your heart!
No matter how small a thing, good or bad, God sees it… it matters… you matter to Him!
Each and ever soul on this earth was born with a purpose… a very special and important one! Remember that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, as they say, and so is purpose!
I’m going to hijack this prompt, as it doesn’t fit with the person you see here, before you.
Truth be told, I am a take action junkie… which hasn’t always done me any favors in life!
Today’s prompt made me laugh to myself, since my problem isn’t in the NOT taking action department. My issue is recognizing when to STAND DOWN!
It’s taken many bumps, bruises, and bandaged feelings, in order to teach me when to step back… pump the mouth brake… take my hands off of a thing I think I know how to fix, handle, manage, recover and/or repair.
Sometimes, standing down is far better than taking action…
Perhaps, that might be considered an action, in and of itself. However one wants to look at it, I’m seeking to strike a balance between standing down and stepping forward into action.
Am I there yet… no! Am I going to give you any specific examples, as the prompt is suggesting? Absolutely Not! Why? Because we all have had times in our lives where we did or didn’t do as we should have. I just prefer to use my words to encourage others, rather than dredge up my past shame for you to read over your morning coffee, lunch, or after-dinner mints… how dreary would that be? Ugh…
Laughter, as they say, is one of the best medicines… for the body, mind, AND Soul!
I love watching things that make me laugh, but to unwind, I need specific kinds of things to make me laugh the right way… the unwinding way!
Musicals!!! They have to be on the top of my laughter list… Remember Mary Poppins? Remember the scene where everyone is stuck on the ceiling because they couldn’t stop laughing? Here…
One of my fav’s!
There are those times that I need to watch a comedy or two, but there are those days where I binge watch Dry Bar Comedy, where the jokes and stories are funny… not rude, crass, or gross. My kids are all grown and gone, so I no longer have to put up with that stuff.
Last, but certainly not least, I love to laugh with friends. Whether we watch something together, play online games together, or simply talk on the phone… again, laughter is often the best medicine for what ails ya, which this prompt refers to as “a demanding day”. Just sayin…
All those years ago, in the heart of a desolate child, God reached down and plucked me from the clutches of the enemy… in every sense of the words!
Utterly lost and forgotten, until He sought me out!
It’s been quite a journey since…
Dream of anything…
Snacks, of course…
Through anger, fear, and the nightmares that haunted me, I fought God for years. I refused to let go of the very things that were destroying me from the inside out… memories! Mine, theirs, the memories became baggage that only gained weight with the passage of time.
The good, the bad, and all that lay between… He never let go of this broken one, this forgotten child. After all the things I did to push God away from me, He still held on with such intensity, I could no longer deny Him!
Truly, I am walking this earth because of the grace and power of God, and God alone! Positive, oh yes… I’d say that encounter had a very positive effect on this child!
I’d have to say that choosing to become a mother, quickly set me upon a path that has changed me in more ways than I could ever fully describe. I’m pretty sure that just about every woman ever to become a mother, would say that it was a major life changer. Let’s just say that this woman is very different than the one that made that choice, so many years ago.
Through it all, and that includes the heartache as well as the joys, I have learned to love more deeply, forgive more graciously (myself included), give more readily to another… and here’s a biggie… I learned how to overcome failures, learning from them instead of feeling defeated by them.
Raising my daughters helped make me the person that I am today, and I like the me that I ended up becoming…
Since the bible says that we are all brothers and sisters “in Christ”, then that means He qualifies as a family member that has done something positive for me… and you, as well!
Jesus did what no one else could… He Conquered death itself!
John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” I’m going out on a limb here, but I would definitely call that something positive!
Journey With Me! 