The Traveler

We are all travelers through life.  The journey is at times full of laughter and joy, at times quiet and lonesome, at times full of love punctuated by pauses of uncertainty and uneasiness, but at all times one can choose to bring God along, to share the fun and help with the challenges.

Every person is a solo traveler for every person's journey is different. This uniqueness is more apparent while on a spiritual quest than when one is wound up in the web of a daily existence, more conspicuous in the life of a single person than in the individual lives of a married couple and more pronounced for the spontaneous loner than in the regulated lives of individuals living by the rules of a community.

Every journey has a past and a past to reminisce and examine plus a future to anticipate, as well as the road ahead. The past can be applauded and regretted but not remade.  The now can be used to study the past and improve on it in anticipation of the future, but that is not a guarantee that the road ahead will be more peaceful--it could very well be more violent.  For example, what one chooses from the past and improve on can be weapons, by making them more accurate and efficient in taking lives, rather than one's sinful nature, by ameliorating it to be more giving of oneself and more forgiving of others.

Not many people manufacture killing machines and I imagine even fewer actually enjoy killing. Whether one is in the business of taking lives or saving souls, everybody can be more charitable.  As a traveler through life, winning is never the goal--being a welcomed guest is.  Where one is seated at the dinner table and what one is served is not important--being invited and having something to drink and eat is. Thanking others along this journey is important--expressing appreciation and thankfulness with sincerity and a smile from the heart is far more important.

I wish all fellow travelers a good journey.  Whenever the terrain becomes unfamiliar and difficult, may the One true, familiar and unfailing travel companion one has chosen to invite along be there to lead and ease the way.