Have You Found What You Are Looking For?
I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For — Song by U2
Most of us are probably familiar with this song by U2, if not, I highly recommend giving it a listen. This song popped into my head recently as I was on vacation. Yes, vacation, my first trip in 14 months. As I walked along the beach, I was scanning the sand for unusual shells, sea glass, or unique pieces of coral. Something I have always done when visiting a beach.
Over the years I have trained my eyes to quickly identify shells of unique shape and color. On most walks along the shoreline, I will automatically find little treasures where the sea meets the sand. Sometimes I am very casual about it and a shell or piece of coral happens to jump right out at me. And other times, I am head down in full search mode, looking for exactly the right size, color, or shaped shell for my collection.
Well on my recent trip, I found myself looking but not finding, searching but not really seeing anything. After a couple of days of coming up empty, I thought about why this could be happening. And I realized that my mind had not caught up with being on vacation yet. I realized I wasn’t quite relaxed enough to see anything popping out at me, and I wasn’t focused enough to be intentional about seeking out something special. I found myself in a weird state of work and vacation limbo.
Have you ever been there? Are you there right now? Maybe it’s not searching for seashells, sea glass, or coral, but searching for something, something you aren’t quite sure about or haven’t clearly defined yet. And since what we are searching for isn’t always completely obvious, it becomes harder and harder to find. Or as the U2 song goes, “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for.”…