Into The Wild

"So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man's living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun."— Chris McCandless

So I watched Into The Wild last night...it really hit me because of the adventure I'm about to embark on. I've been a little apprehensive about the Peace Corps, but now when I think about the adventures and experiences I'll be having I feel nothing but excitement.

It's odd how things come in and out of your life...to teach you, to test you, and to humble you. I've had an innumerable amount of these type of things over the past year or so, and if I really think about it I guess they have always been there. I guess my hope for all of you reading this is that your eyes and hearts are open to the big and small miracles that happen everyday! God is great! A few of the recent blessings that come to my mind are the following: a preacher that is a wonderful encouragement to me because he once dreamt of joining the Peace Corps, a woman that contacted me, through my aunt, because she has a passion for helping the gypsies in Romania, becoming a spiritual leader to others without even realizing it, an opportunity to work with the English dept. at Norwell ended up preparing me in ways I didn't know I needed before I leave, and the countless comments from people I see supporting me on my journey to further find the person I want to be.

Who is the person I want to be you ask? I could tell you that I want to be a disciple of Jesus Christ, which is true, but it's not exactly the definition I'm looking for. This question came to me the other day when a friend gave me the gift of myself (journals and thoughts to consider). Myself?? Yeah that's what I thought at first too, but to open a person's perception of themselves is a priceless gift. Chris McCandless said "You don't need human relationships to be happy, God has placed it all around us." Although I think we do need human relationships...it's the quest to understand one's self that makes the journey worthwhile. I find that so many of us, myself included, spend time judging others when we should be looking within ourselves. I know I'll never be perfect and I may never become the person I want to be, but isn't it phenomenal to think that God has given us unlimited potential?!