Inspiration from Unusual Places

Sometimes I find inspiration in very unusual places.
Today I was watching the movie 'Parenthood' starring Steve Martin. The concept of the movie was very interesting, but I didn't like the language content and some of the things in it. However, as often happens for me, I found inspiration here. It's a conversation between Gil (Steve Martin), Karen (Mary Steenburgen) and Grandma (Helen Shaw).
Gil is upset because of all the things going on, and the conversation goes like this:

Karen: Life is messy.
Gil: I hate messy. It's so ... messy.
Grandma: You know, when I was nineteen, Grandpa took me on a roller coaster.
Gil: Oh?
Grandma: Up, down, up, down. Oh, what a ride!
Gil: What a great story.
Grandma: I always wanted to go again. You know, it was just so interesting to me that a ride could make me so frightened, so scared, so sick, so excited, and so thrilled all together! Some didn't like it. They went on the merry-go-round. That just goes around. Nothing. I like the roller coaster. You get more out of it.

I'd have to say my life has been a roller coaster this year. I have been on one, so I know exactly what she meant here.

I was talking with a friend at church this morning about the direction my life has taken in the past year, and she said what if I had been able to see what it would have been like at this time last year. As she was talking, I realised I'm glad I couldn't see what was coming. Discovery is half the journey.