If Life aint a Journey, I don't Want it

Yesterday I had the opportunity to drive 8 and 1/2 hours to go spend Christmas with my parents and family, which is super exciting cause I didn't get to see my family last Christmas.

My day started off beautifully with a full full moon, shoot star, and one of my favourite things (a prairie sunrise). Not only this I was privilege to witness these spectacular views, I was blessed with the incredible opportunity to travel the first 3 and 1/2 hours with Ray-Joy (who captured this picture while I was driving).

As we were driving Rae-Joy really helped me recognize again how much of a journey life is. How we each have our own journey's and our own stories, and how we have been placed in each other's lives to be a part of each other's journeys.

The journey of life is not an easy one. It is one that I have struggled through for the last 22 years. One that I do not understand everyday, and as I sat in the car for my last 5 hours of my journey by myself I had lots of time to think and pray. To consider and think about the world around me. Like the topography of Earth life changes as we take more steps. I left the prairies flat and barren, I saw the mountains off in the distance and I saw the beauty of rolling hills and trees as I rolled in closer to my parents. It reminded me of how much life is like taking a long distance journey. The older I have gotten the more I can look back a remember where I have come and what I have learned along the way. Just like I remember home and what the roads were like, what the conversations had for me to learn from, what animals I sighted and what car accidents were a long the way. I was able to reflect on how much I have been able to learn about myself this semester and grow further in my faith.

I have learned how much I love the travelling process. Sure getting to the end destination is nice and all, cause those are our goals and aspirations and family. Yet there is also something so completely amazing about the journey. When I journey and take the wrong turn or make the wrong decision I can learn so much about myself and have learned so much about myself in the process. And I am someone that when I road trip I make sure to try going as many different ways possible. This way when I drive I can learn and experience the amazing creation in life. And understand more about the world around us.

So what is my journey? Haha, there is a lot to that I do want to start sharing that. And today I think I'll share a bit of my journey and transferring schools which has placed me where I am today.

Just about two years ago I had a late night feeling that I needed to transfer out of my school and transfer to a Bible School. I did not want to listen, but couldn't sleep at all so I did all my research to try and figure out if I should go and take on this journey. 72 hours later I had accepted my acceptance any my new school! I could not believe it! I had not only agreed to switch schools, but agreed to switch programs. I started Uni being a Chem major, had already switched into Kinesiology, and was considering changing into Outdoor Education. But none of these things are what I decided to jump into when I transferred. I switched into a BA of Applied Linguistics! What was I thinking? Looking to Teach English to Speakers of Other Languages. I went from being a complete science nerd working on labs, to now studying the roots of a word. I did not understand in the slightest why I was supposed to hop on this journey and leave the landscape that I oh so loved, and such amazing people that helped build me up and move to a whole new province.

Almost 2 years have gone by since I originally made that decision and I can not believe how incredible this change has been. The community that I have been blessed with, the professors who push me to be better people, and the thought provoking challenges that each of my classes give me has been absolutely incredible. I have been looking in the rearview mirror, cherishing the amazing memories these last 2 years and yet I hear God saying to me "don't look too long". I am so thankfully for the journey I have been on attending my new institution, and yet I keep reminding myself to look forward to keep my eyes on the road ahead of me. I can see such incredible things coming up in life and I want to enjoy my road trip of life to the fullest.

So good or bad, I encourage you. Stop staring into the rearview of the past. Look to the future, for there is still so much life to live. The plans God has for each of our lives is amazing, we just gotta keep our eyes on the road and remember to smile and to check our rearview like we would if we were driving. To not drive through life looking at everything else around us, as that would be pretty stupid to be driving on the highway and not keeping our eyes on the road ahead.

So what are you looking forward to ahead of you? For me it is enjoying my Christmas break for what it is. Not over planning it, and hoping in to my car everyday and experience whatever part of my journey God has planned for me each day.