Journey: 1) The act or instance of traveling from one place to another; trip. 2) Any course or passage from one stage or experience to another. (New World Dictionary of American English)

Life is a journey filled with many briefer ones.

Sometimes you look forward to the journey, and sometimes you dread it. Sometimes it’s not the journey itself, but the preparation for it, that is hard.

But when you come to the end, the whole experience proves to be worthwhile.

My husband and I are preparing for a journey to Texas to visit our daughter and her husband. That will make the almost two thousand miles worthwhile.

I have not traveled extensively. However, when I travel within the United States I am struck by two major thoughts: 1) The scenery is magnificient and so varied, filling me with praise to the Creator for His creation. 2)The people are different, yet we are Americans, citizens (mostly) of our great nation. I’m not trying to gloss over our country’s flaws and problems.

I hope we Americans will continue to work together to keep our country strong and free. Responsible freedom is hard work in a world of tyrants, dictators, and terrorists. People become discouraged in bad economic times, and the recent recession has left many Ameicans struggling to put food on the table. We find it hard to trust our representatives in government to do right. The American journey is painful right now. God willing, we will pull through together.

Our vacation journey has included taking care of many detalis at home as well as planning and packing for the trip. In the end the hugs from our loved ones will make it all worthwhile.