Emotions a-Swirl

Well, I'm on the road - that place of adventure, ambiguity, and sometimes danger. Since a lot of what I'm doing involves going places I've never been before, interacting with people I don't know well, and sometimes standing up in front of people and speaking, I'm vulnerable. Vulnerable to taking myself too seriously, for one thing. Of thinking I'm the bee's knees. Or getting stressed out about all the things I'm not doing, or not doing well.

At several points during this last week my sense of fear and impending failure seemed insurmountable. Then something funny or serendipitous would happen and I'd be on top of the world again. One time it was just driving through a neighborhood with streets named Goose Berry Lane, Boysenberry Place, Thistle Berry Drive, Raspberry Street, and Mulberry Circle, only to find one little road named "Fred." Ha!

How do you maintain joy, when things like fear and humiliation lurk nearby, ready to take you down? How do you stay serene when you are are walking down a new trail? My friends in the airline industry are trying to answer that question.

Alaska Airlines wants to help you relax. The cup says:
"Don't think of this as a flight, but a long coffee break."

Some Southwest Airlines jetways feature life-size images of
employees who couldn't be more excited to welcome you aboard.

My friend K. is dealing with something much more serious than trying to manage a crazy schedule. She's battling cancer. And as chemo and radiation come to an end, she shares some of the lessons she has learned. I need to chew on these:

1. Pain is inevitable, but misery is optional. Life will always involve pain but how I handle what is given to me is a choice. I am learning that God never wastes pain.

2. Relationships are mandatory. I truly believe that God has used people during this journey, to give me a glimpse of Himself.

3. There is ALWAYS hope! From personal experience I can say that the biggest thief of hope is a warped focus on myself - a perfect breeding ground for defeat and despair! Early on in this venture, a friend gratefully reminded me of Romans 15:13, and it has become my mantra... “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace, as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope, by the power of the Holy Spirit.”

4. Jesus is constantly ‘wooing’ me back to Himself. He wants to be in close relationship with me (such a thing of grace). He is trying to impress this thick brain of mine with the truth that HIS love defines me - not my self-absorption. I can hardly wrap my heart around the fact that He actually sings over me! (Lam. 3:17)

>> In shallow things or deep ones, what have you found to lift your heart?