Idealized...

I mean, if you didn't look TOO close, you'd think it was Santa Monica.

In fact, it's Burlington, a kilometer or so from my house, just past the heart of our small downtown. The body of water isn't the Pacific, it's Lake Ontario. The tree's not a Palm, heck, it's not even really 'alive' just yet, seeing as we're in the dead of winter up in here.

But it 'aint bad.

I took the shot Saturday morning on my way home from an early breakfast with the wife. Our kids were with her mom, so we had some time to ourselves. Up early, as is becoming our habit, we actually got to our favorite 'greasy spoon' breakfast place before it opened.

Now that's hard core.

We ended up somewhere a little more mass produced, and less-ideal, but still, we had breakfast together, chatted about our life, then drove home past an almost Santa-Monica-like vista.

An ideal morning.

Sort of.

Ideal.

What's your ideal? Like, if you had no limits on your life, where would you be having breakfast this Saturday morning, and with whom? Better yet, what would the 'job' be that you would have worked all week leading up to that Saturday morning breakfast date? What's your ideal city? What is your ideal car? Ideally-speaking, what kind of income would you like to earn, what kind of impact would you hope to be having on the World? In an ideal-scenario what would your life be about, what would it (and you) stand for?

Ideally...

Then, once you've thought long and hard about all of the above, the trick is to start working towards the ideal, even while living in something very much less than.

That's why you take pictures of your waterfront vista, so that you can pause to appreciate it. Two things happen in that moment, 1) you're thankful for what you have (which is the key to a peaceful/godly life) and 2) you're reminded of what you'd like to work towards.

Then, ideally, you go and get busy.

T