Joshua Street’s Blog

Life’s Anti-dote: Stop trying to calculate for everything. Stop trying to control everything. Just work to your problems, stay humble, stay positive, and enjoy the ride.

Yeah, I stink at it too…

until it involves them.

There are only a few things that really stress me out. Probably ranking near the top are things that interfere with my “system” of doing things. That can be people, circumstances, and yes even at times, God Almighty.

But how do I know when my system needs to change? Do I wait for it to break? Do I just walk away from the things that cause confusion in it? I think I should, if I feel it will bring a character failure in my life…but then again why isn’t my system built around preventing them and notating red flags? If life is really less about what I accomplish than about how I live it, then perhaps the only system I should care about is the more facilitating change in me. What system do you have in place for personal change?

I love watching my kids learn. From the progression of excitement to frustration, they try and try. It makes me think though how quickly we formulate that we have “figured it out”. That’s just not the case. Let’s face it, we all are still trying. The wisdom is in knowing you don’t have it figured out. The truth is you are probably wrong. When’s the last time you got angry and frustrated, looked in the mirror, and said to yourself, “you’re wrong”?

When I started my twenties and pictured what my life would be like at the close of them, I can honestly say there is not much that fits. I hadn’t met my wife yet, I was working my way through college to become some type of counselor, I thought I was ready to be a husband (luckily the girl I was engaged to wasn’t), my two younger brothers were in 8th and 2nd grades, and I’d been out of the house for 2 years. I was so young and thought that the world was my oyster (both statements I still believe today, but in a slightly wiser fashion).

I guess what I’m trying to say is my life reshaped into something far different than my expectations. Maybe I could have done everything right and known exactly what I wanted to do at and early age. Maybe I would have gotten to this place faster in life. Perhaps, but I highly doubt I would have acquired the level of appreciation for the things I have been given without the journey I’ve taken.

So this year I’m thankful for that. I’m thankful that no matter what I do or don’t ask for, something great is around the corner. After all, the joys of life are never found in the things you expect, but in the unexpected.