by Eileen Jackson, Airedale Church

Almost ready: tickets, visa, travel insurance, the lot! The case selected, I’ve started laying out items in the spare bedroom. If you haven’t guessed yet, the big adventure is on the horizon – the exotic holiday. Are you looking forward to it I'm asked? Well, yes, I reply, very much – experiencing those mixed emotions which accompany an imminent foray into the unknown.

I lay out summer clothing in cold winter evenings, trying to decide what I will need. I try to think “out of the box” – or suitcase! – and into the destination. What will it be like? A very different life experience awaits; travel broadens the mind, I muse, but only if the mind is ready to be broadened.

It is too easy to think, on reaching a certain shall we say “maturity”, that there is little yet to surprise or engage. You’ve made up your mind and you’ll stick with the views that have served you well as the years go on, then a little voice I recognise inside teases me gently: “Don’t pack all your pre-conceptions along with everything else!"

Travel, like all experiences, will broaden the mind, improve, educate, but only if we maintain that childlike disposition to learn. As an ex-educator I know that, but it came to me anew. Our minister talked recently about allowing God to transform our minds, so we see the world not just from our own viewpoint but from the divine perspective through the love of God in Christ Jesus. We do need help though, promised from the best teacher in the world, His Holy Spirit (John 14 v26).

“Let God transform you into a new person, by changing the way you think” Romans 12 v2 NLT

A thought definitely worth packing with the passport .