Are we there yet?

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A repeated question from childhood that often irritated parents from its repetitive use by every child within a traveling vehicle was “Are we there yet?”

When I was a child, I seldom uttered those words because I actually loved to go anywhere because I was fascinated with seeing the world around me.

I loved to see rolling green fields covered with cows gazing. Waters of the rivers flowing and churning by the rocks below. The mountains rising high around me as I tried to look back into every hollow to see if a small house sat there with a chimney shooting smoke into the sky.

When we went into the cities, I would stretch my neck trying to look up at the top of the buildings as we rolled through.

Since I spent much of my childhood as an only, long rides in cars were not much different than occupying my time anywhere around home. In those days we weren’t tied to car seats, so I could move anywhere across the back seat or floorboard of our blue Chevrolet Malibu as I played and filled the hours.

Nighttime was the only periods when I really didn’t enjoy trips because there was little to see beyond the door windows.

But there were many times as a small child, I remember curling up in the front floorboard of the Chevrolet pickup at the feet of my mother near the heat vent where I would go off to sleep and awake when we got to where we were headed.

Feeling warm and safe in that place made traveling a preferred activity when I was small.

Of course, trips for us were largely limited to our annual vacation or periodic trips on holidays to visit relatives. Oftentimes vacations included relatives too.

Today, as I crawl into the driver’s seat to head off for a trip, I do sometimes find myself thinking “Are we there yet?”

I know the answer, but the weariness associated with the act of driving, does make the traveling less appealing to me. I still enjoy seeing the places once I arrive but the monotony of looking out the windshield at the road makes the experience less of an adventure to me.

Often in life, we set goals, create a path, and then forge ahead towards that objective.

Along the way, we sometimes stop and access how close we are to reaching the goal in essence asking, “Are we there yet?”

So, the skill of asking that question, though frustrating to parents can be a blessing as we map out our lives.

Evaluating where we are, where we are going, and if we need to adjust to reach a goal is a great skill.

Finding our way in life day-to-day can be an adventure on its own, I know I am on a constant trend of re-evaluating my position.

Do you feel like you are spinning your wheels? Maybe you are not reaching anywhere close to where you thought you would be? Maybe you need to ask, “Are we there yet?”

Finding a path within one’s soul

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Is there an unrevealed path deep within you.

If you find a quiet place and think back upon your life, was there ever a still small voice that you ignored encouraging forward to something greater.

Did anyone ever come to you in life with a prophetic word about your future?

Did they say, “God asked me to share this with you, and He sees you being …”

Contemplate and look back upon your life, was there some greater purpose that even you believed to be yours?

Were you to be a great minister of the Gospel meant to bring millions to Christ?

Maybe a leader of men and women who was to rise to great heights in elected office?

Perhaps your head was once teaming with ideas that could change the face of the business world?

Perhaps you hoped to change the world in some way, possible bring peace to mankind?

Did you have a play, a poem, or a novel floating between your synapses?

Is there a great work of art – a painting, a sculpture or another masterpiece just waiting for you to grasp the tools of its creation?

Life has a way of getting away from us, one day we are young with all our future ahead, the next we are graying looking back upon the paths we trod.

The nice thing is no matter where on the timeline of life we find ourselves, our mind, our hopes, our dreams remain almost always planted strongly in our first quarter.

We can realign our lives no matter where we find ourselves, to use the remaining quarters to achieve a trip down that unrevealed path.

While bones may no longer accept a path that includes skydiving or climbing Mount Everest, we still have the opportunity to reach within ourselves and make the world a better place for those around us.

Perhaps your unrevealed path is simply improving the plight of the less fortunate?

Be still and listen to the Words within your soul.

God is speaking to your heart, if not today, He left a message for you long ago.

Seek and you shall find.

Overcome the madness around us

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Six decades ago, there was a movie called “It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World.”
While the focus of that film followed a star-studded cast in a race to find a dying man’s riches as a commentary on man’s foibles as it strives for wealth.
The title though indicates how many people feel about our current world as they look upon what is occurring around them – politics, world affairs, culture, and so many other areas.
Questions are upon hearts, frustration is on faces, stress is in voices, doubts circle around in our minds as we ponder where this circling madness will end.
People who were alive when that movie debuted probably would not recognize the world that we now are seeing cross our palm screens. They would have never imagined we would be carrying computers around in our palms.
Those screens allow us to see and hear things that often bring on the questions, cause the frustration and stress and bring on the doubts.
Many people are carrying that around with them. Some become quick to anger or react to others out of character without thinking.
If there was ever a time we need God’s Grace in this world, this is that time.
We each need to listen to others more intently and with the patience of Job.
We each need to hope for greater answers brought on by the questions.
We each need to seek calming resolutions for the frustrations.
We each need to soothe the stresses by encouraging more thoughtful discussions.
We each need to cast out the doubts knowing that within our faith we can overcome those.
We each need to not engage in the madness. You don’t end madness by playing along.
In our own hometown, we can be a beacon of sanity by caring for those around us.
Offering Grace in the face of frustration and doubt, help to find the answers that will offer understanding.
When all of these things don’t suffice help to lead others down a path of prayer that will ultimately bring peace of mind, soul and body.
Yes, it’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World, but it’s theirs and doesn’t have to be yours.
Take charge and expel the madness or at least give its own straitjacket and padded cell.