is your journey!

I was sitting having lunch with a very beautiful well respected woman in my life, and she said something that made me really think. She said, "Kayla, your mistakes will be your own mistakes". It seems obvious right, but its not. Its not obvious to the over achieving, people pleasing, perfectionist that seems to take over in me at times. Its not obvious to the need to be successful, trying hard to do everything right young adult that ive watched myself become. The thing is - she is right - every single person will make their own mistakes and their mistakes will be their own, and that is okay.

No one is perfect. As I look over these past few months I see so many mistakes ive made. I see choices that I could have made differently. I see things I should have done. I see things I should not have done. The point is that every single bit of that makes me who I am. Every single bit of it (the joys and triumphs) make this MY journey. This is MY journey and no one else can take that from us unless we choose to let them.

That brings me to my final point, we dont know what journey people are on. I always say you cant understand someone truly until you know their story because their story makes them who they are. In reality, we can not just look at people and KNOW their stories. Stories are shared through trust and relationships, and its through our stories that we learn to embrace the things in us that maybe are not so Jesus like. In turn we learn to embrace the grace and mercy that Jesus provides in exchange for those things.

This picture makes me wonder about this little boy's story, and it ignites in my heart that desire to truly learn to UNDERSTAND people. I want my life to be lived in a way that I can say I tried to understand, I tried to love with all I had, I made mistakes, BUT I lived MY journey!