It’s hard to understand where anything is going unless you stand at the point of origin and watch the launch. Looking from any angle except the launch site means you can only determine where something is headed if you comprehend all the math and sciences at work. If you watch the ignition and launch sequence from close to where it originates, you probably still need to understand, but at least you can see it from the perspective of Ground Zero.
Think about it in light of anything moving from the point of origin to some destination in distance and time. A huge oil tanker takes hours to get moving, hours to stop, and a great deal of power to move a sliver of distance in a hurry. A thrown baseball leaves the pitcher’s hands to the waiting glove of the catcher, and each throw slices, curves, slides, and powers into the mitt.
Understanding motion dynamics, power shifts, and a host of other sciences help you grasp the mechanism of the launch, but a minor motion out of sequence can produce different results.
Think about any missile, rocket, or space vehicle. Watch it from any visible location, and you probably need to understand planetary dynamics, physics, engineering, and a whole lot more math than most of us comprehend to grasp why that contrail is going away from you, and it has a huge curve in its direction, and it’s flying against the rotation of the planet instead of with it. How fast is it going? How many pounds of thrust is it taking to move that giant?
What? Why?
And why isn’t it simply going straight up like the rocket was pointed?
I was thinking of the years of enjoying all things Space and Travel, gobbling up Science Fiction where we were far into the future and already at home among the stars.
But I have never stood close to a launch site. It’s only been something to enjoy from afar, on a tiny screen, or in a photo by someone there.
In the early 60s, we were living next to the Johnson Space Center. Back then, it was simply called NASA. School chums, neighborhood kids, and scout friends were all seemingly part of the Space Race. It was really special to have close friends among the children of astronauts and engineers, but only more special now, looking over my shoulder at the past. Sleepovers, campouts, Little League, Scouting events, school plays, and endless time spent with kids of parents taking us to the stars!
At a special combined-but-separate birthday party thrown at the same time for my brother and me (around 7-9 years old), I was given a set of dominoes by Mark Grissom. Yes. His dad was an astronaut. According to mom, Mark was at the party already, and Gus Grissom brought the gift to our house. I remember the crazy day and these dominoes more than any other gift I received! I still have 2 of them, the rest were lost in Alaska when I left the box on top of the car when leaving a camp. 5 and 6…suit of 4.
Back on track.
See how easy it is to lose my Trajectory.
Where do our lives go after we are launched at birth? Do our parents set the trajectory by the environment they have built for us? How much does nurture come into play, or is it more a biological dictate of our genetic markers? So much happens along the way that it is difficult to know the impacts of all the challenges we face. Relocations, births and deaths, birth order, gender, health challenges, injury, awards and demotions, dating and marriage, divorce, loss of job or career, retirement.
A good day means a lot, while a bad day sets us back a whole passel of time!
How do our emotions play into this? Our temperament? Have we always been a loving person? Or did we add/subtract this along the pathway of our life? When did we lose our “smart-aleckness” and just become a regular person?
Consider Your Trajectory
All of this causes me to reconsider my trajectory in life. Can we reimagine our path? Can we take control of our trajectory? Do we have options to make better choices? Can we back up and have a redo? Is it okay to step backward instead of forward?
I was sharing recently about the path of life in front of us and how important it is to not react to the challenges we face, rather it’s more important to act with a plan that has been well thought out, implemented, and ready to respond to challenges along the way. Reactions can be so emotionally charged and driven. But a well-planned path can perhaps have some maturity built into the choices we will need to make along the way.
Think about that prodigal in the story Jesus shares in Luke 15. This chapter deals with things that are lost. The sheep. The coin. The son. The first two deal with something typically “owned”. The shepherd loses a sheep. Just one out of a hundred. He leaves the 99 alone in the wilderness and goes after the one. When found he calls for a time of rejoicing because he has found the lost.
Jesus sums it up like this:
I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven
over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.
(Luke 15:7 NKJV)
Then. A woman loses one of her precious coins. She had 10. Now she has 9. She searches and cleans the entire house until she finds it. (It makes me wonder what happened that made her lose something that has obvious value!) When found, she calls her neighbors for help in rejoicing over the find.
What does Jesus say?
Likewise, I say to you,
there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
(Luke 15:10 NKJV)
However. With the third example, Jesus goes deeper into the story describing a son who decides it’s time to take his own life in his hands and make his way in the world. He has been given his inheritance and leaves for the world beyond the fields he grew up in.
Without supervision, no documented life plan, and perhaps no idea of the trajectory he has launched, he finds himself in dire straits. He’s lost everything. He’s homeless. And it looks like the food of swine is a sustainable morsel. Suddenly, he comes to himself and realizes that even the servants of his father’s house have it better than him. So, he changes his life’s trajectory. And returns to his home, wanting to start at the lowest of lows and begin again.
Jesus does not summarize the story with a comment as he did when the sheep or coin were found. Rather, the father has the last words when the other son complains about the special attention…makes me wonder if his trajectory was about to leave his well-ordered track! No. The father simply says.
“… ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’ ”
(Luke 15:31-32 NKJV)
Not that he has angels rejoicing or that there is joy in heaven. Rather. We should be happy about what is considered dead to be found alive again! That which was lost is now found! The attention turns from heavenly joy to our joy.
This is a slice of my thought today.
Our trajectory may be leading us the wrong way. The truth about it? Consider this nugget.
We seldom ever comprehend
how far off course we are
from that path that was prescribed
by the one who launched us.
Or the path we thought we were on.
When we reach the first bump or hurdle, crash and burn and have to spend a bit of time recouping or reach the end of our rope and have nowhere else to go, we often wake to the realization. Our trajectory may not be the best path to be on!
So, before reacting to your situation, take some time to deeply analyze your path. David and Solomon are two wise individuals from scripture that helps me comprehend where I am and figure out where I’ve been headed.
- Ponder the path of your feet, And let all your ways be established. (Proverbs 4:26 NKJV)
- I thought about my ways And turned my feet to Your testimonies. (Psalms 119:59 NKJV)
Take ownership of what you do with who you are …
That’s my focus. Do not let the trajectory of a force propel you down a path you cannot endorse. Do not be like a lemming and follow the crowd. But amid your world, be true to your identity. Know who you are. Be You.
“At some point,
you realize what you are doing is what God intended for you.
Enjoy the calling.
Stretch your wings and fly with it.
You were made especially for your situation…” ~Me…
A famous author that I read extensively as a child says it like this:
"Today you are you, that is truer than true.There is no one alive, who is youer than you. " ~Dr. Seuss Share on X“Today you are you, that is truer than true.
There is no one alive, who is youer than you. ” ~Dr. Seuss