I’ve been reading friends’ blogs lately. I’ve seen a common theme that I must share. I read Laura-Jane’s blog at Whimfield where she and her husband packed up, drove across country to the unknown so that they could buy a farm on PEI and get out of the fast-paced life.

I read of my friend Holly who’s little girl is recovering from heart surgery. She is giving daily updates and pictures to keep her loved ones informed. The risk associated, as well as the stress-level with these type of operations is insurmountable.

Another friend, Karina, is preparing mentally, if not yet physically, to be a missionary wherever there is a need. She has 2 children, another one the way and she is displaying an adventurous spirit that I did not know her capable.

A like-minded soul in Victoria, Andrea, is preparing to move her life to a rural farm in Ontario to pursue a dream that she and her husband share.

Change is a-foot as Marc and I prepare to move into an old cottage not more than 700 square feet filled with cobwebs, every cranny stuffed with mouse poop and brimming with possibilities that perhaps only we can see.

mestairs

I look at the women surrounding me with their different situations, and I see courage. Courage to match the old settler families who embarked out on their own to pursue a dream.

Sometimes I am frustrated because I feel like I only have one life. I want to live it fully, without hesitation or regret. I want to embrace what is around me and choose what I do and what I pursue. But a lot depends on chance, providence, fate. A lot is out of my control.

stairsii

What I can control is how I react to it. What I’m finding more and more, every day is my simple philosophy may be correct. Move forward with courage, only stopping to love. So if I approach the ugly stairs, rip the carpet off, I have to remember to stop and take time to congratulate myself and my friends on their courage. They pursue their dreams for a reason. They want something from life. They pursue an ideal and by doing so, they love themselves and their lives.

With all the busyness of moving, renovating, painting, doing, I must allow myself a moment to refocus. We move forward in courage, only stopping to love those around us, and ourselves.

What do you want from life? Are you pursuing it?