By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

Do you collect things?  Most, if not all of us, collect something, even if it’s only dust.  Our refrigerator looks like a travel log, covered with magnets (pictures) from so many places we have been and enjoyed.  We stop at every state-line welcome center and do our best to take in the local souvenir shops.  These stops, of course, mean that we inevitably come home with more than we had.

This is one of those particular places.  One afternoon driving across New Mexico into Arizona, we stopped for photos at the Continental Divide signs then pulled into the parking lot of this store just a few minutes before their closing time.  The ladies working that afternoon were very kind to us, recognized our seeming weariness, welcomed us in for the restrooms and to shop a few minutes before locking the front door behind us as we stepped back outside.  Those few minutes inside allowed us to gather up several souvenirs for various friends and family members.

I frequently relate these “thoughts” to traveling through this old world, for that is exactly what we are doing on a daily basis.  And as we travel this world, meandering our way through each and every God-given day, I can’t help but wonder what souvenirs we are picking up.

Are we gathering smiles and experiences from those around us?  Are we in turn sharing with them about where we’ve been?  You see, I look at souvenir collecting as a give and gather situation.  Not only are we collecting things to take back with us, but we are always leaving bits and pieces of ourselves wherever we go.

We speak, wave, smile, or simply share a friendly conversation with a cashier or even another fellow traveler whose path we’ve stumbled across.  We become a mixture of all the places we’ve been and all the people we’ve met.

Then, as we get older and our trip begins to reach the final destination, we remember fondly how the Lord blessed us along with way.  Perhaps, just perhaps, He has a refrigerator with my name on it.  And on that fridge are magnets and mementos of where all He has carried me – of our travels together.  And there in prominent view are also photos of all the people with whom I’ve interacted along the way.  True souvenirs.  Souls I’ve pointed toward the Lord.  Oh God, may that refrigerator be full of faces — Godly souvenirs!

Just a thought.