True North!

In topography, there are three or four "norths" but in life, I find, there is but one True North. It is my belief at this stage of my life that the earlier a person can find clearly their True North, the sooner the joy of life and living begin to yield the real fruits of the vineyard of life.  I realize quite clearly that life is not always good nor fun nor without pain and anguish but finding and focusing on your True North better prepares you for the journey through those tough times and therefore provides even additional joy and pleasure when you arrive at your mountaintop with your azimuth on that True North.

Finding one's True North is one of the more difficult and illusive journeys of this thing called life. For some it seems so easy yet for others, and I believe the majority, that journey is fraught with misconception, missteps, misunderstandings, discouragement and dips in hope and even faith.  As you that read this know, life is, well, not easy nor do I believe it was designed for a journey of ease and comfort.  As I put these thoughts to words in hopes that something will fall out of the writing that will be an encouragement for the reader. There are so many examples in my own life that wash through my brain and my heart as I sought to find my True North.  Now as a professor and working closely with my students, I see the struggle in so many of them, most I would say, to find their unique True North and many do not even realize that is what is happening in their lives.

True North for me is that direct, unequivocal, unveering, line of march toward the destination determined by your heart, your talents and the gifts God has provided you with the expectations that you will not only use those gifts but you will grow and amplify those gifts from Him.  Each of us are gifted in a most unique way. The list of gifts is quite expansive  I have come to a distinct realization in my own life and teach this strongly to my students in hopes that the essence will osmotically ingest itself into the hearts and souls of the students.  It is my distinct belief that a person can be many things or attempt to be many things determined by external forces such as a spouse, a parent, a coach, a boy  / girl friend or events of life and we can all attest to that sense of pressure from outside who we really are or should be as individuals.

But it is my absolute belief that there is a quiet voice that resides deep inside each of us somewhere around the heart that, if we quietly listen, we can hear that voice telling us who we really are. It is that person that must be cultivated, allowed into the light of day, the voice of your individual reason that will point you to your True North.  There are so many voices and noises in our lives that for some it is easier just to choose to join their band and march down their street never disconnecting, rising above the issues of your life and never listening to nor for that voice inside you that beckons you to shoot your own azimuth toward your True North but choose instead to stumble through life on others' North with all the bumps and scrapes that will entail. I plead guilty for far too many years of my life and for far too many years of my life I realize, now, I was trying hard to be something but not someone with that someone being the person God had created in me for His world and His ministry. Guilty as charged!

It took a good career at Goodyear, many years in the military and a few years of retirement and many hurts and disappointments all self inflicted, to put me into a role in my life where I finally found my True North.  That path was cut through endless hours of smelly, discouraging interface with thousands upon thousands of prison inmates in a jail ministry.  Further path cutting came when getting to teach dozens of young minds each semester, I began to see through their journeys clarity around my True North.  Music has been a major pathway clearer in seeing hearts touched and lives changed through that component of my life. All of those paths in coming to confluence has finally pointed me toward my True North for at the arrival at that True North is a God that watched the whole process of my life and all the while preparing my home in the true True North for Jim Williams; my home in Heaven.  Wow, what a journey this is and it only gets better. 

But it all begins with two things. First is finding the true you; that you when nobody else is around and you are all alone and second, what that true you locks in to God's unique, masterful vector to Him.  Does not get any better than that for the reward upon arrival at the terminal of your True North is a real life eternal with friends and family and men and women of God that have found their True North. Oh how I long to see so many when I get to my true True North. My mother, my grandfather, Abraham Lincoln. I want to sing with Vestal Goodman and Jake Hess and my old friend Jack Toney.  I want to spend days just listening to the people that touched my life on my pathway like Glen Avery, Mrs. Morton, pastors and teachers that shaped my heart and my life.  

This day, please, think about your True North!  Make this a most special day in your own life.