There are so many times in our lives when we find ourselves at a crossroad.  Those are the times we refer to as “defining moments”. They are moments that will forever change the direction of our lives, who we are and who we will be. I can tell you that I have had many of these.  You would think at some point it would get easier but it doesn’t.  Each defining moment is just a difficult as the time before.  It is similar to coming to a fork in the road.  There is no more time to think, to ponder about your choices or to seek out the opinion of others. The road has ended and you must choose to make a right or a left.  There is no going back, you must make a choice. Which way do you choose to go?

These last few weeks I have had a lot of time to think.  For some reason I have found myself thinking, a lot, about the  English Puritans (better known as the Pilgrims).  I kept thinking back to that day, Sept 6th 1620 when they boarded the Mayflower and set sail for the New World. I can’t help but wonder what it was like for them. I wonder if their friends and family were supportive or did they just think they were crazy?  Were they scared?  Were the people around them scared for them, after all they were risking their lives taking such a journey?  I just have so many questions. 

It is said it took 66 days for the Pilgrims to make the journey.  Sixty six days with no connection with the outside world and having no idea what awaited them in the New World. When they finally reached the New World the Pilgrims spent their first winter living onboard the Mayflower. Sadly only 53 passengers and half the crew survived out of the original 102 (only 5 of the original 19 women survived).  I wonder if they would have still set sail had they known the outcome ahead. I wonder if in the end they thought it was all worth it.  Still so many questions.

As I have thought long and hard about the Pilgrims and their journey I have realized that there are two types of people in the world.  There are the leaders and the followers.  There are those who follow the rules without question and there are those who challenge the rules and ask lots of questions.  There are those who live in fear and those who live fearlessly.  At the end of the day it is up to each individual to decide who they choose to be.  We each get to decide if we want to be a leader or a follower.  We each get to decide whether we want to live in fear or live fearlessly.

I guess I will never really know what was truly going on in the minds of each of those who made the decision to board the Mayflower on that fateful day.  However, I do know that if those brave souls had not made the decision they did I would not be here today, nor would most of you reading this.  I am so appreciative to those Pilgrims for taking a stand.  I am so grateful for the courage and strength it must have taken to go against the status quo and instead follow their hearts.  I am sure they knew that not everyone agreed with them, not all supported them and that most wouldn’t join them.  Yet, somewhere deep down inside they knew they needed to be part of the change as they bravely set sail to create a New World.  For that I am forever grateful.

These are changing times and we are sailing into a New World.  As we stand at the crossroads we will now need to decide which of us is going left and which of us is going right.  I only hope we all have the strength and courage to respect the choices each of us will make.