The world holds many mysteries waiting to be discovered.
(Northern Lights)

Today was the first day of my brother’s missionary training class. He is going to Thailand. I am a little jealous of him, but mostly super excited. Why? There is nothing that changes your view of the world, or strengthens your resolve in what you believe, like stepping outside of your comfort zone. I am very proud of my brother, and of his decision to do this. We are too often too comfortable in our surroundings and because of this we don’t experience anything outside of what we know. What a sad commentary on the human condition that is. If life is compared to a journey, then the goal should be that we don’t stay in one spot. We should open up our hearts and our minds to experience all that this world (which God gave us) has to offer. Sitting in our safe, comfy bubble keeps us one-sided and skews our view, making us believe that only what we know is true. What are the results of this thought process? War. Hatred. Misunderstandings. Ignorance. But if we take the time to learn about different cultures and different people, then we open the door to new ideas, and we gain a broader view of ourself and our world. My brother is preparing for something that will profoundly change and grow his perspective. His world view will be bigger. His understanding of his fellow man will have NO box.

So what am I thankful for today? That we live in a big world…we still have so much to learn.