While on vacation the week after Christmas, my family and I drove the infamous Road to Hana. It's a highway that follows the beautiful, rainforested north shore of Maui. However, "winding" would be the understatement of the century about this road. It is famous for its more than 600 curves (most of which are blind hairpins) and its 59 bridges, 46 of which are one-laners according to Wikipedia. According to me, that's a generous estimate.
While my mom was dodging tourist convertibles and avoiding sheer cliff edges, I was taking pictures of the road signs. Road signs are something I always find interesting, because they can be read to have double meanings about life, guidance, and following God. But on the tortuous, sometimes terrifying, incredibly beautiful Road to Hana, their messages seemed heightened, especially when I thought about lessons I've learned during my last 4 1/2 months of freelancing.
The road to the future can be winding (and sometimes the curves are blind).
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Sometimes you defer to the ideas of others with more experience, especially when you're young.
You don't always get there as fast as you want to.
Sometimes you run into roadblocks.
But eventually you get going again.
And the journey can be beautiful.
Sometimes it's just plain funny, too. Part of the adventure is learning to laugh, to find the humor in the midst of 600 hairpin curves. Sunshine sometimes comes in weird and wacky forms. Like these bizarre signs!
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| "Why did the baby pigs cross the road?" |
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| "The |
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| "A place named Haiku--maybe only 17 people live there..." |
What weird, wise, or wacky signs have you spotted by the roadside?
Haha, love the baby pigs sign. I can definitely relate to the Slow part. When I look at other people who are more successful, I wonder what am I missing that I'm not there yet? But then I just have to remind myself that God's in control of my journey and success will be on His time. It takes some of the pressure off. :-)
ReplyDeleteBtw, you didn't tell me you were going to Hawaii! :-P Glad you had a great time.
I think I will be thinking twice (or more) about road signs next time I'm driving! It is challenging and can even be fun to think about road signs this way!
ReplyDeleteSo if you could post your own road signs for others navigating the same season of life as you are, what would they say???
Angela: Thanks for the good reminder; God is always in control of our journeys. Hard to live by in a culture where we're told we're in control of our lives all the time, but so true. And yes, it was really nice to get away for a while in such a beautiful place! We went with my dad's whole side of the family and had a blast.
ReplyDeleteMama: I'm glad my crazy pictures made you think! Really, these ARE the signs I'd share with people...I think just the fact that this is the way I read the ones on the road says something about what I'm learning in this stage of my life.
Thanks for reading, as always :)