“Travel makes one modest; you see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” ~Gustave Flaubert (1821-1880), French novelist
It took the words from a young woman named Gabreilla Faddool to express how I feel about traveling the world. If she doesn’t mind, I’ll share her words with you from her article on The OdysseyOnline.com titled, “If I Could Travel Around the World–For Free (Wouldn’t this really be awesome?)”:
If I could travel around the world for free, I would:
- Go somewhere I have never been to: I would go to Paris or Hawaii and just relax. I would not think of the supposed problems around me, and just enjoy myself.
- Go back to somewhere I have been to: I would go to London or Dubai, since I enjoyed visiting both places. [I’d love to see both since I haven’t actually been to either]
- Just travel for no reason at all: Assuming that I would have more money to spend, I would just travel.
- Travel with the person I love: In the near future, if I do fall in love, I would travel with the person I love. We would go places, especially the romantic ones.
- Travel and live where I wanted: I would travel and live where I wanted. The rest you probably know.
- Travel and just buy expensive chocolate and ice cream: I would travel and buy my two most favorite comfort foods, plus cake and Milano cookies. [Cake and Milano cookies sound good to me!]
- Travel and meet my role models or those who had a huge impact on my life.
- Take my dog on every trip. [YES, but I have to get a dog first]
- Travel and elope with someone (whoever that is) LOL.
- Travel and take care of the needy, build and develop their neighborhoods/villages.
- Travel and learn a new language by living with the people: I think it would be easier than just listening to audio CD’s.
- Travel on a world round trip until I am tired. [I don’t think I’d ever get tired]
It would be so much fun to travel the world for free. I would make a lot of memories, and I would not have to struggle putting money together for it. It is too good to be true, but it would be really awesome. (Quote source here.)
It would be really awesome, indeed! 🙂 Three of the places at the top of my list are (1) New York City, (2) Paris, France, and (3) Israel. And while we’re on the topic of traveling, we should also think about traveling light. In fact, here are some encouraging words from Max Lucado on how to do just that from his book “Traveling Light: Releasing the Burdens You Were Never Meant to Bear,” taken from Chapter 1 titled, “The Luggage of Life”:
I don’t know how to travel light. But I need to learn. Denalyn [his wife] refuses to give birth to any more children even though the airlines allow each passenger three checked bags and two carry-ons.
I need to learn to travel light.
You’re wondering why I can’t. Loosen up! you’re thinking. You can’t enjoy a journey carrying so much stuff. Why don’t you just drop all that luggage?
Funny you should ask. I’d like to inquire the same of you. Haven’t you been known to pick up a few bags?
Odds are, you did this morning. Somewhere between the first step on the floor and the last step out the door, you grabbed some luggage. You stepped over to the baggage carousel and loaded up. Don’t remember doing so? That’s because you did it without thinking. Don’t remember seeing a baggage terminal? That’s because the carousel is not the one in the airport; it’s the one in the mind. And the bags we grab are not made of leather; they’re made of burdens.
The suitcase of guilt. A sack of discontent. You drape a duffel bag of weariness on one shoulder and a hanging bag of grief on the other. Add on a backpack of doubt, an overnight bag of loneliness, and a trunk of fear. Pretty soon you’re pulling more stuff than a skycap. No wonder you’re so tired at the end of the day. Lugging luggage is exhausting.
What you were saying to me, God is saying to you, “Set that stuff down! You’re carrying burdens you don’t need to bear.”
“Come to me,” he invites, “all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 11:28, NLT).
If we let him, God will lighten our loads … but how do we let him? May I invite an old friend to show us? The Twenty-third Psalm.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil. My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever. (Psalm 23, NKJV)
Do more beloved words exist? Framed and hung in hospital halls, scratched on prison walls, quoted by the young, and whispered by the dying. In these lines sailors have found a harbor, the frightened have found a father, and strugglers have found a friend.
And because the passage is so deeply loved, it is widely known. Can you find ears on which these words have never fallen? Set to music in a hundred songs, translated into a thousand tongues, domiciled in a million hearts.
One of those hearts might be yours. What kinship do you feel with these words? Where do the verses transport you? To a fireside? Bedside? Graveside?
Hardly a week passes that I don’t turn to them. This passage is to the minister what balm is to the physician. I recently applied them to the heart of a dear friend. Summoned to his house with the words “The doctors aren’t giving him more than a few days,” I looked at him and understood. Face pale. Lips stretched and parched. Skin draping between bones like old umbrella cloth between spokes. The cancer had taken so much: his appetite, his strength, his days. But the cancer hadn’t touched his faith. Pulling a chair to his bed and squeezing his hand, I whispered, “Bill, ‘The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.'” He rolled his head toward me as if to welcome the words.
“He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”
Reaching the fourth verse, fearful that he might not hear, I leaned forward until I was a couple of inches from his ear and said, “Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.”
He didn’t open his eyes, but he arched his brows. He didn’t speak, but his thin fingers curled around mine, and I wondered if the Lord was helping him set down some luggage, the fear of dying.
Do you have some luggage of your own? Do you think God might use David’s psalm to lighten your load? Traveling light means trusting God with the burdens you were never intended to bear. (Quote source here.)
So we can lighten the load, drop the burdens, and travel light as we travel the world! Sounds like a great combination to me. I’m ready for a new journey in life. How about you?
Karla Hawkins mentions the following in her article titled, “Top 7 Bible Verses For A New Journey,” on Patheos.com:
A new journey in life is often the beginning of new and exciting adventures. It may include traveling to other places, and it is an opportunity for a fresh start. Journeys usually require planning, and it begins with the first step–sometimes not a physical step but a step of faith that occurs when we overcome what may be stopping us from fulfilling our destiny. (Quote source here.)
Taking a step of faith is often the point at which a new journey begins. Karla mentions in her article the story of the Israelites who had been enslaved for 400 years in Egypt. They were finally freed from their slavery, and they were in the desert after leaving Egypt and starting on a new journey and a fresh time in their lives and in their history. I’ll end this post with two of the seven verses from Karla’s article found in Judges 18:5-6, ESV: And they [the Israelites] said to him [the priest], “Inquire of God, please, that we may know whether the journey on which we are setting out will succeed.” And the priest said to them . . .
Go in peace . . .
The journey on which you go . . .
Is under the eye of the Lord . . .
YouTube Video: “Tell the World” by Lecrae feat. Mali Music:
Sara's Reflections 