We are all on a quest. Whether we know it or not, we are all seeking something. And we all have questions within. Some have more than others. And some take a bit longer than others to find the answers. Some people are very secure and confident in who they are wherever they are. Still others are trying to find their place in the world. That doesn't mean that they lack confidence, but they just know that they haven't found what they are looking for yet. It's hard to explain really, unless you've been there.
And I have definitely been there.
I would say that overall I'm a fairly secure person in who I am. And I tend to be pretty confident and don't let others opinions and ideas shape me. But I am also on my quest to discover "my calling" so to speak. To find what I love and do it with all my heart. To live life to the absolute fullest.
Our searching can manifest itself in all sorts of different ways. For me it has been in moving around. But I have come to realize that my contentment is not going to be found in a place. Because wherever I go, I take myself and the questions within that I still have yet to find answers for.
I was recently contemplating the idea of another major move. Partly because I have to move in a couple months anyway and partly because I'm sick of winter. And then I read something that completely stopped me in my tracks.
With all the options today, it is critical to define your own priorities. If you simply respond to circumstances, any obstacle will send you in a new direction. Circumstances should not determine our choices. Priorities can guide us through the inevitable changes that will come our way. ~Dan Miller
Responding to circumstances is easy. Defining priorities takes some thought. Some people are planners and some are responders. And some people start out as planners but when life seems to not ever go the way that they thought, they find themselves becoming responders. I'm not saying that is always a bad thing, but it can be dangerous. And if you're priorities are out of line, you can very easily take some wrong turns and find yourself in places that you don't want to be. And it can also make the journey to discovering who you are and finding answers to your questions, much longer than you thought.
I think there needs to be a middle of the road here. Sometimes life throws us curve balls and in those cases, we need to be flexible and able to roll with the punches. We have to respond because we have no other chose. But we also can't be afraid to plan just because things might not turn out the way we want them to. We need to know where our priorities lie so that when find ourselves in a "crisis" situation, we already have those safeguards in place to help guide us.
It has been almost a year since I moved north. And one of the reasons that I moved was to be closer to my immediate family. My family is definitely a priority. And the move that I was recently contemplating would have taken me much farther away. The circumstances of winter made me want to pack my bags and head back south, then I remembered why I moved here in the first place. I'm learning. Slowly sometimes, but nevertheless, I'm learning. And at the end of the day, that's the way it should be.
The mind of a man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps. ~Proverbs 16:9
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