I recently returned from a trip to Moab, Utah with my husband and kids. We hiked at Canyonlands National Park and Arches National Park, both a short drive from Moab. If you’ve never been in this part of the country before, make a point of going. The rock formations are spectacular, the colors are deep and intense (red rock and dirt, blue skies), and the desert has its own beauty like no other place.

But here’s what really struck me about my trip. You can live your whole life in the Moab area and never know that less than 20 miles away lies a wondrous world of deeply carved canyons that go on for miles, untouched by man, so vast that it could only be designed by God. This is wilderness area where a jeep road to explore the canyon will take you two days to traverse. It is what I imagine the Grand Canyon to look like. (I’ve never been there so I’m judging from the Sunset magazine photos.) And yet, these vast canyons are not visible from the regular paved roads that one travels to get a gallon of milk.

So imagine this. You are on a hiking trail that leads to a beautiful arch. As you get closer to the arch, you see that it frames a view but you aren’t sure what the picture is until you are just steps away from the arch. Then you discover that past the arch is a drop off of thousands of feet into a large canyon landscape. It is the gateway to another world that you could never have imagined, just 5 minutes ago on the trail. It has come upon you completely by surprise.

This got me thinking. You and I could live our whole lives on safe paved roads, completely satisfied with the ordinary view, not knowing there is another life that is awaiting us. One that will take your breath away, that will inspire, that will be larger than anything you can dream of. This life has no words to fully describe it. It is so close, that it only takes a venturing off the road and a willingness to go into the unknown.

That’s what life is like. Through a series of consistent steps, my life has been transformed. Ten years ago, I could not have imagined my life today. Ten years from now, my life will again be more than I can dream of right now. When I thought that I had tapped into all that life could offer, I find there is more. I live in wonder of what’s next.