Our Traveled Road

“Never look down to test the ground before taking your next step; only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon will find the right road.” - Dag Hammarskjold

The part of the United States in which I grew up was mid-western farmland. The landscapes was huge and wide expanses of corn, soybean and wheat fields. Farm homes dotted the landscape like stars in the sky.

To get from one location to another, country roads are on a grid of one mile squares which made it unlikely to get lost. This pattern of roads is like a checkerboard table cloth your Mom would spread on a picnic table.

The familiarity of home was never too far away.

Yet each road could lead to any place and each road could lead back to where you started. My early years of growing up were a series of these square one mile sections that would slowly expand further and further. One of these roads near my home always intrigued me.

It was a section of road which led down a bluff towards what is called Cedar Lakes and the adjoining Platte River. It was a slow curved dirt road dug deep into the hill with trees lining each side that seemed to reach the clouds.

I imagined great and exciting things awaiting me on the other end.

This was a road that generated great expectation. A road that would not allow me to see what was on the other end but a road, a simple curved road leading to the river which also led to something greater.

Each of us have a similar road in our life. It is a road to our dreams and future. It may seem like we never get past the winding curve of that road but it is a road leading us to our destination.

All we have to do is keep traveling our road.

We keep moving forward, around the bend and following the stars that await. You may not see the horizon far out beyond your reach and what you might see is yet another bend in the road. But your road leads somewhere. Be surprised, be trusting that there is a road to take you where you want to be.

Stay inspired my friends!

Breaking Through The Clouds

"Your vision will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes." - Carl Jung

I was flying into a city recently on a business trip and for a good bit of time near the end of the flight we were flying within the clouds. We knew rain was evident at our landing site and that a runway would appear beneath the wings eventually. As we got closer and closer, the noises associated with a landing started to occur.

Yet there was no sign of a safe runway coming into view.

All of the right things were happening. The flight attendants were checking the safety of our seat belts. Our seat backs were pulled forward and tray tables properly locked. There were laptop devices turned off and each carefully stowed away.

But still no runway in sight.

We had everything right and now all we could do was trust that our designated place to land would soon appear. There was no panic and no cause for concern as we each had faith in the planned nature and training of our pilot.

As we broke through the bottom of the clouds, the runway suddenly appeared. It happened rather quickly and closely I might add. A normal landing had occurred and our plane braked to slow our speed.

Life can throw at us a moment of wondering.

- Will the clouds ever part?
- Will I ever get through this issue?
- Will the goal ever be achieved?

The answer is yes to all of them. You will get through the clouded view you find yourself in. Trust your ability to keep moving towards your destination.

- The journey will not always be clear skies.
- The journey will not be without bumps along the way.

Trust that as you enter the cloud bank, success resides on the other side. And stay inspired my friends.

Trust By Faith

"We're never so vulnerable than when we trust someone - but paradoxically, if we cannot trust, neither can we find love or joy" -Walter Anderson

Yesterday I was listening to a local radio station and thought I had heard incorrectly. It was a advertisement for a security firm that effectively proposed that to trust someone, you need to spy on them. The wife was suspicious of her husband. As the commercial has it, she buys their equipment and finds out her husband was being truthful all along. She can now trust him, all is well.

Isn't the definition of trust; "a charge or duty imposed in faith or confidence or as a condition of some relationship." The whole concept of the commercial kind of amazed me. I assume this 'couple' would now have a long and wonderful relationship. As you may not notice, but I state that with full sarcasm. Additionally this is not meant to call out or criticize a radio station or it advertisers.

The mind set behind coming up with such a commercial does exist in people. There are those that have an inability to trust. It is likely that they have been hurt in the past or had people dishonor their trust. But how does one build trust without having faith?

Religion gets accused of promoting a blind faith in a God that can not be verified. It could be that some would like to have spy equipment to prove or disprove God's existence. Yet faith is what those believers, one I call myself, have in that existence and trust in that relationship. Again, I'm not here to debate God's existence.

What I do wish to state is that 'today' you build a relationship based upon faith in the other. You are opening yourself to the possibility of pain most certainly. But a deeper and more lasting relationship exists when trust is built on faith in the other person. Not by spying and tearing down that faith. Once you begin that process of verifying trust, the relationship is in big trouble.

The song you are listening to has a lyric which says, "I'm trusting You with all that I am." Do you trust your loved one based on faith or on some spy gadget? As I've said, the risk of getting hurt exists when the other person abuses that trust. But life is full of risk and when you get hurt, you get back up and keep moving. I know from experience about losing trust in someone, losing a love.

After dealing with the pain and working on my own issues, I opened up my heart again to trust another. Life did get better. Your life will get better.

Allow faith in another to be your guiding hand when it comes to trust. There will be signs when trust is broken, but lead with faith.