Pioneers!

Are you a pioneer? Am I a pioneer? What is a pioneer?

Adventure, danger, the unknown, no trail to follow, rivers to cross, food to forage, animals to hunt, bobcats and bears to ward off, family to feed, babies to tend to, trees to chop, shelter to seek, weeds to pull, clothes to make, people to meet, stories to tell, sickness to overcome.

Great-grandfather was a wagon-master numerous times leading settlers from Illinois to Oregon City. My kids played “Oregon Trail” on the computer for days when growing up. A daughter has an ‘Oregon Trail’ historical marker in her back yard.

Life is an adventure. Yes, we are all pioneers of different sorts. Every time we begin a new venture, we are pioneering a brand new ad-venture! The risk, the unknown is part of the excitement. We have a picture in our mind’s eye but cannot see how it will all pan out. We can’t always count the cost… we don’t know how much it will cost so we just begin and keep moving forward because it’s what we want to do.

We each have a grand life to live ahead of us. Don’t be afraid to pull up your tent pegs and try something new. There is much still to be discovered, learned and tried. We humans have been given the best minds of all creation, and they need to be stretched and think and design, craft, create, build, develop, push forward, see better ways of doing things, keep on improving and helping others to do likewise.

Accept your pioneer spirit and forge ahead. Others may not see your path or want to go with you. Don’t let that stop you. There had to be the first pioneer. There has to be vision. Let it be yours to make something good and beneficial.

Hitch up your wagon and drive!

Hurry! Hurry!! Hurry!!! Is God in a Hurry?

Jesus was never in hurry.  God is not in a hurry. Why are we?

I’m not talking about being lazy, overly laid back, procrastinating, and indecisive.  I’m talking about the nagging feeling that we have got to hurry up with this, and hurry up with that. We’ve got to rush to get this done so we can rush to get the next thing done.

We nag our kids and ourselves to push, push, push to accomplish more and faster and quicker until we’re running around in a fit of nervous energy most of the time and can’t concentrate long enough on any one thing to do it well, or see if there might be a better way to do it, or, horror of horrors, if it even needs to be done at all!!!

Is this you? It has been me! …too many times!!!

A little voice inside my head tells me to hurry when I’m washing the dishes, to hurry when I’m trying to organize something,  to hurry when I’m trying to learn something new, to hurry even when I’m doing something relaxing! What is going on?

God made the world and everything in it. He made it so it takes time for a tree to grow; it takes time for a baby to develop…9 long months before it is ready to face the outside world; it takes 20 years to grow up and then some more to mature, and just to gain some wisdom and understanding, you’re not going to gain it by a one evening sitting– reading Wikipedia or a self-help book.

Yes, everything takes time. It takes time to think! Allow it to happen and don’t feel guilty. It takes time to think things through to get the right perspective and understand what you want to do, be, have, help, become, encourage, start, finish. Don’t give in to the ‘hurry’ bug. Don’t give in to its bite!

It takes time to read a story to your kids. Enjoy it and make it interesting and fun for them. It takes time to remember and tell a family story from your childhood to pass on that memory to the next and the next generation. Do it. And do it well. You’re building. You’re building something lasting.

The hardest, sturdiest trees grow the slowest. The white oak and the black walnut, both prized for their quality dense wood, so excellent for woodworking,  grow at a slow pace, taking many years…no shortcuts. Some rings are narrower than others showing a dry summer that year, but the tree kept at it steadily and soon another better year came along and the tree grew more.

The trees that grow the quickest, the softwoods, don’t have a lot of stability and cannot be used on big projects; they can’t support the stress needed to accomplish the job. They have bigger pores in their grain and are not as smooth, and a big wind will blow them right over.

Let growth happen, a little here, a little there. Don’t be in a big rush about it. Let God do His slow but steady, time-consuming yet sure work in you and in your family.

It will get done, it just takes time!