There are so many things I’ve learned from traveling! I would not know where to begin prioritizing. There are lessons that come not only from travel but from living over half a century; from experiences we might want to forget and memories we cherish.
I do want to share what I know makes any travel experience a delight. It is something so simple and it is called GRATITUDE.
The moment I realized how diminutive I am in the scope of things and how my life depends on the will of God, was the moment that opened my mind to awe. How amazing it is that God would bless me with the desires of my heart. Hmmm… where had I read that before? Could it be Psalm 37:4 where it says Delight yourself in the Lord; And He will give you the desires of your heart.
Being grateful every minute of a trip and pause for a few seconds to give thanks makes all the difference in the world. I go through a mental list of things I may take for granted when traveling such as thanking Him for my eyesight, my healthy legs to hike, my hearing to listen to the song of birds and that favorite song on my cell phone. For what I’m wearing and even for binoculars! Not only does it make me happy, but the Lord rejoices when he is a part of my everyday life.
No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you. John 15:14-15. When traveling many things can happen. Things break down and sometimes even fall apart. I see those events as quizzes and tests of faith and I want to pass this test. We have been stranded on the road a couple of times; it happens to most every traveler. It is then that I focus on the fact that it is not my body that broke down, I’m not injured nor hurt in any way. In my case, PATIENCE, is an Achilles’ heel therefore these are very tough tests. Sometimes when traveling we do get sick or hurt.
During the time when I owned a tour company, we managed the legal requirements and arrangements to transport the body of a traveler back home. It is never easy. When tour guiding I dealt with many sick customers suffering from heart attacks to food poisoning. I treasure those moments for they thought me the value of life today and not tomorrow. It is those moments that taught me how much humans need each other and how much faith can strengthen us. Those customers thanked me so much for helping them in such hard times, but I like to think of myself as a representative of God just doing what a Christian does. It is His help and mercy that came to the rescue; I was just an instrument.
What I am saying is that gratitude for life and health, gratitude for family and friends, gratitude for time and financial resources, for work, and for just about everything will always, yes always, bestow an amazing travel experience. Since I befriended he who died for me and loves to experience life along with me, the world became a much better place to visit.
Cactus in the Mirror 