Wednesday, September 07, 2005

The apple cart

As I was driving to work this morning, I took a different way. I had seen a road that was connected to Colby (one of my three regular pathways home from work). I recognized the name from a sign on US60 (one of my other regular pathways). I assumed this was both ends of the same road. Today I had to take Chris to work, which caused me to go past my usual turn on Combs Ferry Rd. Instead, I went just a couple tenths of a mile up on Winchester Rd (US60), and turned on Venable Rd. This was a way I had never traveled before. It did just as I had assumed. It took me to Colby and then on to work. It was a small change. It was just a detour from my regular path. It didn't upset the apple cart.

Many people go through life with the worry of upsetting the apple cart.

My life is not bad. It is actually quite good. I have a challenging and rewarding job. I have a plethora of friends. I have a great family. I have a wonderful wife. There is drama from time to time, as there is in anyone's life, but overall, it is still a good life. However, there are still things that I need to change in my life. Some of these changes are minor. Some of these changes will be major. The scale of the change is directly related to the aspects of my life that will be affected.

Changing my drink from Mt. Dew to Diet Mt. Dew is a minor change in that it will not affect the places I go or the people with whom I associate. It can become a large change in as much as it might help me shed some of this weight that is killing me.

As I was driving on Venable, I started to think. It was one of those 'off my regular route' kind of thinking spurs. I did a quick look over my life. There were definite changes that I need to make. While these changes will affect every major aspect of my life, they will not change the base of those aspects. They will not change who I am. They will not change who I love. They will not change the people I love in my life. All of those people (most of whom would not be worried) can rest easy. They are in a safe place.

I thought about my relationship with God. It definitely needs to be changed. I need to be closer and more in line with his goals in my life. There is a line in a country music song that says, "if you want to hear God laugh, tell him your plans." I realize that I have no long range goals. I have no real thought about what I want to be next year or even next month, for that matter. I just assume that I will be driving the same stretch of road back and forth between the same job and the same house.

I have plans for completing some education that could be considered goals, but these are plans the State made for me by requiring them for my continuing employment. These are not goals that I sat down and made based on a decision of where I want to be in 10 years, 5 years, or even 1 year.

I am getting that 'floaty' feeling again. I have reached a niche and have settled in. This is not a bad niche. As niches go, it is quite comfy. Still, there needs to be a change. There needs to be a threat to the apple cart. Just as I look back on the things which brought me to this day, I must look forward to the things which will take me farther.

Today, we might (can you be a little more wishy washy) begin to upset the apple cart.

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