It’s almost midnight. I’m packed and ready for my 10-day trip to Kansas City. My suitcase is half-full, so plenty of room for bringing back presents. Actually, it feels strange to have a half-full suitcase; I’m so used to packing and re-packing to meet weight and amount limitations. I wasn’t really stressed about going off on this trip. Mostly I was just excited, but now I’m not so sure. No reason other than that it doesn’t feel like a short trip. For me a long-haul flight means Brazil. It usually means heading off for another long period of time, and it usually means setting off to face numerous difficult situations and challenges head-on. But it’s all good. This is not a trip like that. It’s a trip where I hope to meet with God. It’s a trip where I am travelling with a group rather than alone. It’s a trip where everything has been prepared for me and I just have to go along and “enjoy the ride”. I am looking forward to it, and I wish we were on our way already. However, we leave in 4 hours, so maybe I should try to get at least a bit of sleep…
“Where can I find life?” has been a question I have asked myself a lot recently (but really for years). And really the deeper question is: “What is life, and what does it look like?” I guess the simple answer is whatever makes you feel alive on the inside; that brings a smile to your face; and that gives you energy and increases your capacity. There are so many side-effects of burn-out; or maybe they are rather causes of burn-out, which when combined become a huge mountain that can topple even the strongest of people. But once you have been depleted of your capacity to stand in the face of the challenges around you, one of the things that can help increase your energy and capacity is finding pockets of life. (And of course a lot of other things like rest, exercise, patience when the process is slow, setting boundaries etc. but that’s for another blogpost). The past months I’ve been watching and searching and paying attention. Searching for choices that will bring life, and paying att