A journey of a thousand miles…

When Lao Tzu first penned this famous line in the Dao De Jing, he could not have foreseen the impact. A carefully constructed sentence, a balance of counterpoint, whose influence undoubtedly lies in its final word.

Lao Tzu's proclamation speaks to intentionality. Being intentional is undoubtedly one of the most important values an individual can have, but so is being aware of the side-effects our intentional actions will produce.

In her book, One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are, Ann Voskamp writes

"Sometimes you don't know when you're taking the first step through a door until you're already inside."

I have come to understand that most journeys are collections of 'first steps.' Although we fully have defined our goal, have imagined what the end of our odyssey looks like, and think we have mapped out all of the steps that follow, it is not a straight path. It is unlikely, and probably would be pretty mundane, that our journey will not take us to unforeseen roadblocks, unimagined detours, or find ourselves being lured by the siren's song onto trails and side-roads, all of which take us through doors we didn't anticipate.

Occasionally our journey brings us to a door we expected to be open, but that has been closed to our passage. If we allow that obstacle to be our last step, we will languish. Helen Keller, in The Open Door tells us,

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us."

My journey has recently been blocked by a door I never thought would be closed to passage. But that closed-door has allowed several others to open. Doors that will allow me to take many more exciting but challenging first steps.

Stay tuned.