Do you ever feel like there is no end in sight?  That perhaps the hard journey you are on will keep going and you wonder if you can make it? 

I would venture to say that you are not alone.

Hard times in our lives are like that.  Even if we know there is an end ahead, it feels like it is so far away that we want to give up.  We  are weary and want to rest.  We are discouraged. We are heartbroken.

I look at the railroad track that seems as if it goes on forever.  What I love is that even though it goes for miles and miles, it stops at destination points.  It picks up or delivers the cargo.

Our journey in life is much the same.  There are destinations in the midst of our trip that provide respite, where God is at work caring for us.  It may be a caring friend, kind words from a coworker, someone checking in us…little bits of encouragement along the way.  It is the times when people invest in you.

It is those times, those destinations along the way that keep us going.  This is especially true when the journey is long and hard.  It is when the journey has unexpected twists and turns that are difficult to navigate alone.

Every day leaders not only provide those respite times for others on their journey, but they also recognize and embrace those that provide it for us.  Both of these opportunities are times when we have to choose. We have to be intentional to let others be that rest stop and speak encouragement into our lives.

We have to choose to be the refreshment for someone else.

The  train goes along and stops here and there.  Just as our lives go along and has stops here and there.  We have to choose to get off on the stops.  To refresh, not only ourselves but others.

Every day leaders know it is what we all need.  We know that our intentional choices make a difference in the lives of another on their journey of life.