Hundred Foot Going-Nowhere-Journey

It's midnight and I can't stop thinking about a movie I watched tonight.

Today marks the time of year that the most important person in your life is made to feel like Cleopatra (without the snakes)... Mother's Day.

Tonight I drove 1.5 hours to surprise my mum.

It was a perfect evening.

My youngest brother cooked Thai, we ate, we laughed, we had ice cream and watched a movie. Minus a few siblings, it was the ultimate family night.

THE.MOVIE.

If you've never seen it, The Hundred Foot Journey is about an Indian family who, after being forced to escape India, take refuge in France and open an Indian restaurant, across from an acclaimed French restaurant. 100 feet to be exact.

The star, Hassan Kadam, shows great potential as a novice chef and surprises the owner of "Le Saule Pleureur", Maddame Mallory, who then invites him to complete an internship with the restaurant.... Long story short, he gets recognized by lots of other restaurants in Paris and is taken on this huge journey becoming one of the most well known, innovative chefs in Europe.

The movie had such a provoking tone to it.

It was the kind that made you want to do more, be more.

When I first became a connect leader at 19, I had this saying, "Be radically transformed by God, after all, who wants to stay the same forever."

I'm 26 now and the more time goes on, the further away I feel from that philosophy.

To be completely transparent, for the last 6 years I feel as though, spiritually, I've stayed in the same place in life. Not moving forward. Not even moving backwards. But two feet on the ground, immobile, staying the same.

This is my Hundred Foot Going-Nowhere-Journey.

WHO.WANTS.TO.STAY.THE.SAME.FOREVER.

Toowoomba always seems to bring out the nostalgia in me. Maybe it's the cool, maybe it's the city, maybe it's the grounding sense of home. But I sat next to my car after the movie and thought a familiar thought, "God, I don't want to be in the same place in twelve months time".

Funnily enough, God's response was and has always been.

“As the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

and my thoughts [higher] than your thoughts."

Isaiah 55:9

I think the first step toward change is the acceptance of responsibility that, it kind of is my fault. All this time God has had the cards in His hand waiting for the right time to play them. Like a skillful poker player, never giving away the clues. Contrary to me, the reckless child who aimlessly and impulsively throws all my chips into the middle while holding a pair of sevens.

If I want anything to change I need to admit how blind I've been.

Denial is a form of self-importance. And no likes to be called self-important.

When we take responsibility and accept the things that we could have done differently, it allows us to move on. Giving us a birds eye view of past and present, liberating our creativity and also, I believe, brings a little bit of self-forgiveness. Even as I highlight those words something within me stirs.

Our future may not be our own,

but it is ours to take a hold of!

Go out, be daring, be bold, be ADVENTUROUS and forgive yourself.

(I'm preaching to myself, but if it resonates with you, run with it!)

With Love & Learning,

#lifelessons #inspiration #aboutme