The Bus Stops Here

I'm leaving for Italy next week with my packet of Dramamine tucked safely in the front pocket of my carry-on bag. 

I'm not really a regular taker of Dramamine because I'm not a fan of naps. In fact, I think I've only used it once. But when I opened the email from the faith and art retreat leader filled with last minute details about the trip, it was the all-capital-letters warning about the bus ride that caught my attention.

It seems that the road from Milan to Lake Como is an extremely curvy one. And I’ll be traveling it on a bus. For about two hours. 

The email said this was NOT the time to think you can beat motion sickness and to TAKE medication. {That was the gist of it anyway.}

Now I’m the girl who gets queasy just thinking about riding a bus. I don’t do theme park rides or watch jiggly videos on YouTube. I get dizzy just looking over my shoulder too quickly.

I wasn’t always this way. 

I grew up in Pittsburgh, navigating up and down its steep hills without a second thought. 

But Florida’s flat roadways have me conditioned to a tamer sort of traveling, which is rather tedious for those who enjoy an ultimate driving adventure.

Like I’m apparently going to experience on the road to Lake Como.

I was telling my sister how I was dreading the bus ride and I’d probably turn six shades of green by the end of my journey, when my niece overheard me and offered her eight-year-old assessment. 

“Oh Auntie, you always think of the worst things,” she said. “What if that doesn’t even happen?”

She’s right, of course. 

Although I hope for the best, my life’s motto has always been to imagine the worst since that’s just how things seem to go for me. 

I’ve convinced myself that with this train of thought, I’ll be better prepared.

But this is rarely true. 

It’s never provided a softer landing for my fall. Whatever disappointment, failure or difficulty occurred wasn’t any easier to accept. All the worst-case scenario planning that went on in my head just made me worried and anxious. 

So this bus ride to Lake Como might be the place to put the brakes on this train of thought.

This kind of thinking wants me to ponder, well . . . me. 

What will I do? How will I feel? How will I look? 

I suspect these me-centered thoughts will resurface as I attempt an array of activities for the first time during my trip to Italy. 

But God has been inviting me to blur my focus. 

I’ve been attempting to look through a new lens, seeing my usual self-conscious preoccupation much less sharply. And when my image grows fuzzy, I can see the frame of another much more clearly.

This is how God’s counterintuitive design for our lives works. 

When you empty yourself, you’re mysteriously satisfied. 

When you give it away, you experience abundance. 

When you release what’s in your hands, your heart inexplicably fills.

I’ve found that the very things in life I’m desiring most, might be found when I consider myself least.

Somehow I think when I remember the hearts of those sharing their love of Italy and their artful talents with me, I’ll find this trip to be everything I’ve dreamed of.

Months ago when I first heard of this faith and art retreat and my heart soared at the thought of it, God whispered, “Let’s go to Italy together.”

So I’ll be making art of scripture as I learn to Bible-journal. 

I’ll be painting and drawing from the hillsides of Italy. 

I’ll be cooking with some Italian mamas. 

And I’ll be seeing the homeland of those who came before me in my own family.

So I’m hoping for the best on the bus ride to Lake Como. Because I hear the drive offers some spectacular views. 

Just between you and me, I think I’ll keep the Dramamine tucked in my bag. I wouldn’t want to doze off and find the bus stopped and discover I’d missed the entire exciting drive. 

Or would I? 

{To be continued in three weeks.}

I understand wi-fi is spotty where I’ll be staying, but follow me here on Instagram for mini updates of my journey to Italy!

I'm linking up with my friends at Holley Gerth's place at Coffee for your Heart. Join me there!