EVERY JOURNEY HAS ITS OWN SPEEDBUMPS

I have never driven down a pathway; almost 80 meters long to get to the entrance of a house before and just thought “WOW”. As we approached the entrance I saw the house and was completely breathless. Maybe not completely, otherwise I would not be writing this. Three cars were parked in the driveway, each one in a class of its own. As I entered the dwelling I noticed the furniture, architecture and décor, it spoke volumes of “bling”. Clearly there could be no lack and surely they don’t show any signs that they ever lacked or struggled before.

This people have it easy I thought to myself, they have it all. As we sat down to eat our meal, a story started to unfold that made me feel so ashamed for the thoughts I was thinking. Our host had endured so much hardship and pain. He lost his parents at a young age to an accident and had to move in with an uncle, taking his younger brother along.

They were not treated well, his younger brother struggled at school and he had to assist where he could. They were treated as outsiders and felt alone. At age eighteen, he was granted the trust money his parents left him. He worked hard, endured more pain and just had to pick up his cross and remind himself of the goal that life was going to change for him.

Indeed things changed for him and this is the fruit of his labour he now enjoys and I admire. I learnt an important lesson here; we sometimes judge a book before reading the content. We have no idea of the details of others journeys. We should not compare our lives to others but with gratitude see ours unfold. There are others out there whose burdens we would never be able to carry.

Picture resource Laura Butters.com - Speedbumps