Did I learn anything?
Well I am back. It took me a few days to recover and I am still not 100% but I am back. So far it has been good to be home. Jane and the boys missed having me around. The boys have really been having a hard time with the transition and all. Between me being gone, us redoing the house to sell and packing, they are pretty turned around right now. I hope we can get them back on track soon.
I have been putting off recapping my trip because I have wanted to savor it. The whole experience was so wonderful and refreshing. Plus, I discovered I returned with some type of internal hitchhiker. It would seem that a small amoeba or bacteria has come back with me. It is nothing a little ciparo wont kill, but troublesome non the less.
While traveling back home I kept thinking, “What did I learn?” It was a question I even posted to myself in my travel journal. Here is what I wrote while flying somewhere over the Sahara Desert.
“Have I learned anything? That’s a good question. I certainly have learned a few words, and some cultural etiquette, but is that all? I have acquired a few new stories and some new antidotes. But have I changed???
Yes.
Somehow I have realized how unhealthy I had become. Somewhere I sold my birthright, lost focus on what is really important. Somehow I have convinced my self that my work for the kingdom is greater than my Kings work in me.”
It is a brave thing when men can be honest with themselves. Perhaps there is no easier person to fool than ourselves. I think I had tricked myself into believing my unhealthiness would be rewarded, acknowledged in some way. Somehow I began to believe my overworked hyper extended schedule would lead to peace and self satisfaction. After all, I was working for a good cause right? Instead it left me shallow and unkempt. Trying to be all things to all people has left me slowly becoming no one.
Over the last two weeks I have discovered my passion again. I understand more deeply what it means to be “born again”, not out of flesh or even water but out of joy and rejoicing.
The last entry in my Africa journal says this.
“Have I learned anything? Yes. I have learned that I am Paul Talley. Husband, father, friend. In short I have learned how to be…me. And I am pretty sure that’s all I need to be.”
May you learn to be you. May you be comfortable in your own skin. May God bless you with the uniqueness unto yourself. May all the days of your life, from this day until the last day be occupied with you being…you.
I have been putting off recapping my trip because I have wanted to savor it. The whole experience was so wonderful and refreshing. Plus, I discovered I returned with some type of internal hitchhiker. It would seem that a small amoeba or bacteria has come back with me. It is nothing a little ciparo wont kill, but troublesome non the less.
While traveling back home I kept thinking, “What did I learn?” It was a question I even posted to myself in my travel journal. Here is what I wrote while flying somewhere over the Sahara Desert.
“Have I learned anything? That’s a good question. I certainly have learned a few words, and some cultural etiquette, but is that all? I have acquired a few new stories and some new antidotes. But have I changed???
Yes.
Somehow I have realized how unhealthy I had become. Somewhere I sold my birthright, lost focus on what is really important. Somehow I have convinced my self that my work for the kingdom is greater than my Kings work in me.”
It is a brave thing when men can be honest with themselves. Perhaps there is no easier person to fool than ourselves. I think I had tricked myself into believing my unhealthiness would be rewarded, acknowledged in some way. Somehow I began to believe my overworked hyper extended schedule would lead to peace and self satisfaction. After all, I was working for a good cause right? Instead it left me shallow and unkempt. Trying to be all things to all people has left me slowly becoming no one.
Over the last two weeks I have discovered my passion again. I understand more deeply what it means to be “born again”, not out of flesh or even water but out of joy and rejoicing.
The last entry in my Africa journal says this.
“Have I learned anything? Yes. I have learned that I am Paul Talley. Husband, father, friend. In short I have learned how to be…me. And I am pretty sure that’s all I need to be.”
May you learn to be you. May you be comfortable in your own skin. May God bless you with the uniqueness unto yourself. May all the days of your life, from this day until the last day be occupied with you being…you.
posted by Paul at Thursday, January 25, 2007
1 Comments:
Interesting to know.
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