But I'm not sure if you've noticed others of them.
You probably haven't, because they're so engrained within us.
We don't even realise there are other options...
Until someone pushes the boundaries.
     Goes against the grain.
          Does something different.

As a mum, I have found myself time and time again doing things because that's what I know or that's what everyone else is doing...
Even though I'm the sort of mum who questions most things.

I don't want to do things just because other people are doing them.
I want to do things because they're the right things for our family,
for our girl 

But often I find myself slipping back, doing what everyone else is doing, because that is so familiar and I don't even realise there's another option.
Or I do what others are doing because I feel pressure. I feel weighed down.
It's tiring standing out on my own.

It's easy to do what is expected of you.
It's easy to do what you've always done and always known.
It's easier not to questions things, to follow instructions, to go with the flow.
But that's not always the best thing.
That's not always the right thing.
In the long run, that's often a damaging thing.

It might be scary
taking the road less travelled,
going the long way,
being a bit lonely
but I believe it's worth it.

Photo by Noah Glynn on Unsplash

In Matthew 2, we read that King Herod, the ruler of the time, sent the Wise Men to Bethlehem to find Jesus. He instructed them,
"Go and search carefully for the child. As soon as you find him, report to me, so that I too may go and worship him." (verse 8)
They found Jesus, gave him gifts and worshipped him.
After this they heard in a dream not to return to Herod,
but to go home a different way.

Who would they listen to?
Would they obey the king or the King?

It's easy to do the things that seems less crazy.
It's easy to do the things that make you feel less scared.
It's easy to do the "right thing."

But sometimes,
for our own sake
or even for the sake of the world,
we need to listen carefully to those dreams,
we need to take the road less travelled,
we need to do the crazy thing,
we need to go against the grain.

Leeland, in his song Opposite Way encourages this:

I want to listen to the voices that matter,
not the voices that are calling the loudest.
Will you join me?