I always wanted to be one of those travel bloggers who flits around the world, sips piña coladas in exotic locations,* and dazzles the world with my magnificent travelling wisdom!
And now I have that chance!
As you all know, I’m an expert! That is because I write stuff online, of course. (Only experts write stuff online!)
And since I am an expert and CURRENTLY travelling, I could offer my travel advice to you, too!
So, this week, we’ve headed off to Costa Rica.
Regarding travelling advice to share with you, unfortunately, I shamelessly booked all the same places and destinations my friend told me she went to when she told me about her trip, and I felt jealous.**
Then I went back to eating my bags of cookies and playing video games like I usually do every night.
However, I know something about Costa Rica because I lived there for several monthsmany years ago! But I’m not so good at telling people boring stuff like where to stay when travelling because I usually get distracted thinking about more profound things. And what I have been thinking about lately is:
“How can revisiting people and places we haven’t seen in a while reveal to us how we’ve changed?”
For example, the last time I was in Costa Rica, I was struggling with my identity arising from the perceived cultural value of my employment.
Twenty-five years later (this week) I realized I had fallen into the same old trap. Perhaps this is the modern mind virus I’ve picked up by drinking deeply of the cultural waters surrounding me. This cultural mind virus is especially distressing for me, however, as God had the audacity to call me into a career that lacks cultural esteem.
You are called to do the very thing you fear.
Pastor Bill Johnson
And so perhaps because I notice the same neuroses over the years, the same places I trip and fall as I journey through life, that this is also a key to the very area I need to surrender to God’s purposes, the key stumbling block on the life journey God is pointing me towards.
And that’s how we can awaken to the clues that allow our observed neuroses (when we finally stop to notice them) to lead us on our journey to emotional health.)***
In the mess of your neuroses, and with some digging, may you also find a key to emotional freedom!
Keep digging, friend!
Under the muck, God delights in hiding treasure. May you have the courage to keep digging.
God’s kingdom is like a treasure hidden in a field for years and then accidentally found by a trespasser. The finder is ecstatic—what a find!—and proceeds to sell everything he owns to raise money and buy that field.
Footnotes
*Wait. On closer inspection, is that just a wallpaper “tropical scene” behind them in the Zoom meeting?
**Shamelessly do what others do to find meaning in life!
***By then offering our neuroses to Jesus, of course, once we’ve noticed them, and asking Him to exchange them for the gift He offers in exchange – Understanding a bit more deeply our identity as beloved children of God so we are finally free to soar into who He calls us to be.
Photo Credits- “Us at an airport with an exotic (has bananas!) drink!” by this author, and Eagle soaring by Josie Weiss on Unsplash.
Thank you for liking me! I like you too! (Proven HERE, HERE and HERE!)
Restoring Life 