Paving the Road with Intentions

I’m so excited that summer break is officially here.  That means it’s time for road trips.  I am actually writing this on my laptop in the back seat of my parents’ truck.  Woo Hoo!  We are traveling to Texas to see family.  On this particular occasion my cousin is graduating from high school.  I’m so excited because I get to see my grandmother.  After Tim’s grandmother died, I am anxious to be with her.  I know that time is precious, opportunities like this rare.  How could I not go?

I have hopes for this time away.  I hope that I get those rare gifts of heart moments shared with my grandmother, where we glimpse each other’s souls.  I hope that I express to her my gratitude for her encouragement.  She is faithful in reading my stuff.  She always returns my begging-for-prayer emails with thoughtful words.  She has a way of showing me the path of God’s grace, especially when it is most hidden.  I hope that I will take the time to laugh, deep in my belly, till my eyes water, so much that I have to come up for breath.  You know how there are those times when you get together with family and the memories you make expand?  Okay, I’m not talking about the food.  The food always makes me expand in ways I wish it hadn’t.  But I do love how being with family, especially when it doesn’t happen often, has the ability to make your life feel bigger than it felt before?  Funnier.  Livelier.  Hope-ier.  Happier.   I’ve often said that my mom’s side of the family doesn’t stretch the truth, we just remember big.  I love how everyone’s a storyteller.  I hope I listen to the stories and take them in so that they become a part of me.  I hope that I carry this week within me for the rest of my life, that at a cellular level it changes me in important and beautiful ways.  I hope that I give generously of myself to those around me, that I don’t hold back sharing my heart.  I hope that we are able to hold tightly to the good things of being together and that we will be able to let everything else go by.  I know myself well.  There is that natural jet lag that happens whether you travel by plane or not.  Traveling has the potential to keep everyone and everything out of sorts.  I hope instead that the adventure of this time will override the inconvenience, and that we will enjoy every part of it. 

Here is the biggest hope I have.  It is wrapped in the tender souls of my two sons who are traveling with me.  I hope that they will know themselves to be more than they knew, that their understanding of themselves will grow as they spend time with family larger than they guessed.  I hope that they will sense the current of the sweeping story they participate in through their bloodline.  I hope they will come home with grand memories of being with family in Texas. 

These are my prayers and intentions for this time.  Somehow writing them down at the beginning of my journey helps me.  It feels like I’m more likely to live into it that way.  So blessings to all of you.  May your own roads be paved with prayers and intentions as well.  And may we all live fully the adventure that lies ahead of us!