Learning along the journey

I'm leaving soon for a mission trip with my church. We're going to another country to help build a room for a church and lead a Vacation Bible school for the children.

In preparation for the trip, one of our leaders talked about some ways we could make the trip a success. It occurred to me that her suggestions also made good advice for life.

First, we're supposed to realize that we're the outsiders. We'll be in a different culture. We shouldn't expect the people there to be just like us. Instead, we should get to know the people, love them and listen to them.

In our everyday lives, we might not be visiting a separate culture, but we still need to understand that other people are not just like us. Other people come at life from a different perspective. Try to look at things from their point of view and you'll understand them better and have a much better relationship.

Taking the time to get to know people is always worth the effort. Listening to their stories is a good start on learning to love them.

Another suggestion for our trip was think about what we can learn in every situation.

In life, we should seek to be constantly learning. Every experience is a teacher. We need to only look for the lesson.

We were also told to think about how best we can serve other people, how best we can help them succeed.

Serving other people is always a good strategy. When we help other people, we're always the better for it. Helping them succeed moves us forward on our journey to success.

Steve DeVane
When I need to move forward, I read Success in 10 Steps.