"I want to be able to see where I'm going next, and the purpose of where I've been."

These are my own words that I wrote over two months ago before I took the majority of the summer off from writing. I took nine weeks of the summer to spend in a cell service free camp tucked away in the middle of the mountains, loving on kids, and seeking everything that I last wrote about.

Looking back, while I gained so many of the things that I had wanted for myself, I think I ended up learning a lot more than I thought I would.

Though two months isn't necessarily the longest amount of time, right now I'm in a place where I no longer agree with everything that I once wished for, particularly the beginning of statement quoted above. I do still hope to see the purpose in the seasons that I've gone through. I want to see things fall together in my life as a tricky puzzle. Every now and then I find that I glimpse of that; a glimpse of why things were the way that they were. And when that does happen, it's one of the most encouraging things. It's like a breath of fresh air.

But I don't necessarily want to see where I'm going next anymore. Life moves so incredibly quick, and I'm realizing that now more so than ever. You can nurse a certain heartache for months on end and you can find yourself questioning when it'll ever let up, but suddenly in one moment, you notice something feels a little brighter.

That's life moving quick.

You can spend so long anticipating a certain season that you know will be so beautiful, and with a single blink of the eye it comes and goes. Just like a summer sunset, it seems to slip away just a moment too soon. That's life moving quick. But life is also simple.

You can tell yourself that plan that you've come up with, and you can swear that you're gonna stick to it. But you can also fall completely off that track because of something as simple as a summer night spent on a red swing in a quiet park. And that's OK. Because life is quick and it's simple but it's also a roller coaster and it's still beautiful.

But because of all of that, I don't want to know what's coming next anymore. I don't want to know that something may lead to heartache because I don't want to hold back at any given moment. I don't want to get caught up in anticipating what might be, or what could be. I just want to be.

Love is somewhat skewed these days. It's hard enough, but it doesn't have to be. Because loving people is simple and people are always shifting through their seasons, regardless of how fast our own life moves. Love is something that can be and should be, a constant. And honestly, I think we all need more of those.

We are all always on our way to becoming somebody. I say we loosen our grip on what may come next, and simply let it be. Don't focus so much on where people came from, just focus on where they are right at that moment before you. Because I can promise you that moment will slip away just a moment too soon. Tell them you see everything they're becoming. Encourage them in that.

Don't let what comes next, keep you from fully immersing yourself in every season. Learn to be strong enough in who you are so that the unexpected outcomes, don't shake you and all that you are. Because you're incredible.

I can't promise you what the outcome will be from doing so, but I can promise that whatever it may be will all be worth it someday.

"Quit waiting for a plan, just go love everybody." - Bob Goff