Marilyn's Musings
July 7, 2026
Here we are in the middle of July. This seems to be the month that people take vacations. When you go to a bagel or coffee shop in the morning there are no crowds. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. My husband and I haven’t planned a summer vacation, we are having a “staycation” with our new deck and planning a new change inside the house. I love to take baths, especially in my old, footed tub, so nice and deep and comfortable. But…. the time has come where I realize the tub is too deep for me to get out of easily. (yes, I am getting to “that age”). We are planning on adding to our ½ bath on the main floor of the house and putting in a walk-in shower for this old lady. We knew it would come someday but all of a sudden “someday” is here! I am picturing how this will look while my husband is planning on how it will work. I like my planning better than his cause all I need to do is pick out the shower and the color for the bathroom. He is doing the “guy” stuff with my son and a friend. This project is making me realize how fast the years have gone past and I might just be getting old, LOL. When I look back on my life, I realize the blessings I have had and don’t mind being at that stage between getting older or just plain old.
As we travel through our lives, I think a lot of us realize that we are on a journey with a lot of stops along the way. When we go on vacation Bob has a destination and he wants to get there, on the other hand I am the one saying “let’s take this exit – it could be fun – something different” and he growls a little and sometimes takes the exit and finds out it was worth it. Think about the “exits” in your lives where you take a break on your way to your destination. One exit could be deciding to marry the person you are in love with. Now that exit is something that you can’t see the future and what awaits you. You take that exit with faith in God that He will be traveling with you. Another “exit” for some of us is having children. Taking that “exit” adds a lot of excitement to your lives but sometimes frustration as raising kids isn’t easy – that “exit” will be bumpy with hills and valleys but, again, we need to remember we have a passenger along with us that is guiding us.
As we get back on the highway to continue on to our destination, there’s an exit some of us choose to take and that is the one where we take our time driving along country roads during the years our children are grown and having their own families. If we are fortunate to take this ride, we may meet new friends, we may become grandparents, we may get new jobs or even retire to be on a permanent vacation. There are a lot of surprises along this “exit” but, as always, our passenger is there for us when we need Him with all the changes this “exit” can bring. Riding along this beautiful country road we may run into a couple of really bumpy hills and rough roads as we are getting older and health conditions may cause a bit of problems, but, again, our passenger will help us get over this rough part of the road.
I have found out that when we get back on the road that is taking us to our final destination, we make one more stop going off an “exit” with the name of “Faith Journey”. We can drive for a while and pull over and have a picnic along the side of the road with a beautiful view whether it is the ocean with its never-ending waves coming to the shore as Gods never ending love. Or we could picnic on a mountain with the view of God's beautiful world with the changes in scenery like the changes in times in our lives. It doesn’t matter which view you choose, you know God is with you enjoying your happiness and love for Him. I am on that exit now. I am enjoying my senior years learning and building on my faith in “Our Father Who Art in Heaven”. Learning more and more about His love for me and everyone is a wonderful time of my life. It gives me a moment to realize He has been on this journey with me all my life and will continue to be and when we are done with this exit, we will get back on the road and when the time is right, we will reach our final destination with joy.
The hymn this week is “I Know Not Where the Road Will Lead”
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=LlDp66rPagQ&si=zprFqtf-CxiWgVGK
I chose this hymn even though I am not familiar with it. I feel it is perfect to end my musing this week. Take a minute to listen to it. It is on page 643 in our hymnal if you would like to look it up.
