An excerpt.

"Will you come with me to the mountains? It will hurt at first, until your feet are hardened. Reality is harsh to the feet of shadows. But will you come?"

"Well, that is a plan. I am perfectly ready to consider it. Of course I should require some assurances... I should want a guarantee that you are taking me to a place where I shall find a wider sphere of usefulness - and scope for the talents that God has given me - and an atmosphere of free inquiry - in short, all that one means by civilisation and - er - the spiritual life."

"No," said the other. "I can promise you none of these things. No sphere of usefulness: you are not needed there at all. No scope for your talents: only forgiveness for having perverted them. No atmosphere of inquire, for I will bring you to the land not of questions but of answers, and you shall see the face of God."

-The Great Divorce, C.S. Lewis

Blue Collar

I admire those who work hard every day.

Those whose hands are strong and stained with dirt.

Those who commit their entire lives to their trade.

Those who take the time to hone their craft and skill.

There is something almost romantic about the life of a farmer or butcher.

The life of a carpenter or baker.

Of a fisherman or railroad worker.

I suppose the lives of these individuals remind me of a simpler time, a more honest time.

A time in which people were proud of their craft and it wasn’t all about the money.

It was about being passionate about what you do and giving it your all.

It’s been said that people underestimate the benefits of good old manual labor. 

Some of the happiest people in the world, go home smelling to high heaven at the end of the day. 

I believe that’s true. 

Perhaps someday I will experience it for myself. 

But not yet. I still have too much of the world to see...

It's okay to not have it all figured out.

"Relax. You will figure out your career. You will find someone who loves you. You have a whole lifetime; time takes time. The only way to fail at life is to abstain."

- Johanna de Silentio

There seems to be so much pressure these days for people to have their lives figured out. What career are you going to have? Where are you going to live? How are you going to pay for anything and everything? Luckily, I learned from a fairly young age that it is okay to not have it all figured out. Sometimes it’s even okay to not have any of it figured out. Just relax, you’ll cross that bridge when you come to it.

More and more articles and books have started appearing on the topic of this being a generation that will have multiple careers throughout a lifetime. And even now, my father sits at the kitchen table reworking on his résumé as he prepares to take a new direction in his life. I find it admirable and brave. Who wants to do the same job for their whole life anyway? We need that adventure every now and again: to see the world from a new perspective, to learn new things, and to take a risk.

Can it be scary? Yes. Can it be intimidating to not have it all figured out? Yes. But whenever the anxiety of it all catches hold of me I remind myself that I’m not really in control anyway. It’s all in God’s hands and I know that He has a plan for me. Plus, if He wants something to happen it usually will, regardless of what I do. And with that understanding and trust comes a lot of freedom. Besides, as long as I have God by my side not much else matters anyway.

“For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

- Jeremiah 29:11

Good Riddance

Spring has come, and while for most people this might mean spring-cleaning, for college and university students it means moving. 

At the end of the spring semester we all pack up our belongings and move out of our dorms, either back home or to an apartment or to go travel the world. This process goes hand in hand with something that I have become quite fond of and think everyone should do at least once a year.

A purging.  (or cleansing if you prefer.)

At the end of every school year I riffle through all my cupboards and drawers and find mass amounts of papers, party favors, mementos, etc. that have somehow accumulated within the span of eight months. While some of these things are worth keeping for memory-sake, most end up going to recycling, good will, or the trash.  The thought that I somehow gathered all of this stuff within just a few short months is mind-boggling and I’m so happy that I have a chance at least once a year to get rid of it all.

I don’t know if this is just me, but sometimes I hate having any stuff at all. It’s just a bother. And most of the time it just sits there taking up space. I feel like it ties me down somehow, but that’s a story for a different time.

When I first came to North America I couldn’t believe that people not only had big houses full of stuff, but that they have extra storage containers full of MORE stuff! Why?! If you do not need it often enough to have it on hand, you don’t need it!

Maybe that is my father speaking through me, he used to have me and my sisters go through all our things every so often and get rid of the things we didn’t need. It stuck, and I’m glad.

I love my annual purge and will probably continue to do it even when I do not have to move in or out of some place annually. Just try it, you’ll feel so much better  :)

...to taste it again.

I have steered a tall-ship out at sea.

I have felt the warmth of an udder as I milked a cow.

I have spent the night in a yurt.

I have tasted prawns fresh from the ocean floor.

I have stood on mountaintops.

I have fallen asleep watching the stars.

I have felt the saltiness of the Ocean on my skin.

I have pitched tents.

I have climbed many a tree.

I have smelled the wild flowers of the fields.

I have watched bears mosey on by.

I have shot an arrow from a bow.

I have paddled across the waters.

I have heard the rumble of thunder overhead. 

I have smelled the smoke of campfires.

I have drunk from the streams.

I have caught snowflakes on my tongue.

I have ridden a horse bareback.

I have heard the call of the eagle and loon.

I have danced in the rain.

I have burrowed under the snow.

I have felt the tightness of a cave.

I have tasted the meat of moose and deer.

I have cycled through hills and valleys.

I have tasted adventure. 

I have tasted what it is to be alive. 

I want to taste it again. 

Sweet Goodbyes

Airports tend to get a bad reputation. Not surprisingly so. They are a hassle: security checks, finding the right terminal and gate, lots of waiting around, busy crowds, the list goes on and on. But there is something that happens in airports that you don’t see quite as much in other places. Airports tend to prompt people to show how they really feel about each other. As people head off into the unknown of new adventures they finally show how much they care in that final embrace or last conversation.

In my experience, airports have been places where I do some of my biggest thinking about who is important to me in my life. Possibly because KLM always decides to play the saddest songs on their audio-system that make me think of what I’m leaving behind, as well as what I’m going to. What if I never make it back, have I said everything that needs to be said? Have I told the people I love how I feel? Isn’t it interesting that people tend to only show how much they care when they realize that this might be their last chance?

The next couple weeks in my life will be interesting. While I’m excited about graduating and going into this next part of my life, I also meet this phase with some sadness because, let’s be honest, these next few weeks are the last that I will spend with some of these friends. In my life I’ve already missed out on telling some people how I felt about them before it was too late. I’ve neglected to recognize how precious the time spent with people you truly care about is. So I encourage you, no matter what stage of life you’re in or where you may be, hold on to these moments spent with those you  love and tell them that you care. 

"This is the time to remember 
Cause it will not last forever.
These are the days to hold onto
Cause we won't although we'll want to."

-Billy Joel