It’s your birthday, time to add another car to your train.

I like to think with every year we get to start by add a new car to our train. Now when we are young we really don’t have a choice on what type of car we are able to add. A baby needs a nursery, so a car full of baby cribs and toys, and of course enough diapers to get you through the year. As you grow up each car has exactly what you need to help you get through that part of your life, but as you become more mature, you are able to make decisions on your own, so you get to choose what type of car you can add to your train.

There are many types of cars that can be added to trains today;  passenger, freight, non-revenue, military, storage, refrigerated, open-hopper, auto rack, boxcar, closed-hopper, coil, flatcar, gondola, tank, and many more. They all have their specific uses and purposes. The key is knowing what type of car is needed on your particular train.

Now when I was a teen, I probably wanted a car with an entertainment center and cool, modern stuff. A place I could hang out with friends and be cool. But as I started to receive more responsibility, I needed a car that would fit my needs as I started my first job; like a desk, computer, and maybe even a filing cabinet. Now at 32 years old, I have more baggage cars than I know what to do with.

What type of car are you going to add today? One that is practical that can help you on your journey of life, or one that will simply hold the memories and stuff that we don’t necessarily need but can’t seem to get rid of?

Now remember, no matter what type of cars we add, we will have passengers on our train. Those are the people that come into our lives and board our train for a period of our life. We don’t know when they will get off or who is going to get on. What type of cars are we providing them to spend time in? I personally don’t want them to have to sit in my crazy amount of baggage cars, so maybe I need to get a lounge car this year.

The choices we make in our lives affects those around us. So, we need to be aware of what we allow in our lives. Maybe we need to get rid of a couple old cars so we don’t have those negative things in our past to cause trouble for those that board our train today.

Something to think about.