My tendency is to view life as a path to this great final destination where I will joyfully serve God and be fulfilled in all I do. In my mind it sounds like a good goal. But when the path is foggy and sometimes seemingly utterly obscured in front of me, I despair of ever arriving. And then I realize that perhaps there's not a final destination. Maybe I will never "settle" into something that fulfills me completely for the rest of my life. Disappointing? Maybe. Only when I'm looking for a destination. But if my ultimate fulfillment is in Jesus and my relationship with him, what "destination" really matters? If he is all love and goodness, then he knows exactly what is best for me. He wants me to continue to mature. Won't happen in my comfortable destination resort. I have to keep moving, to be receptive to the struggles along with the joys in order to grow.
I appreciate the quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Life is a journey, not a destination." I want to be reminded of that often: when I'm worrying about the future, when I lose perspective of what matters, when I neglect to live in the moment, when I'm not paying attention to where God is nudging me because I've become distracted...
I want to enjoy the journey. To take pleasure in the simple graces of each day. To understand, or at least be sensitive to, what I can learn from the moments. To relish the adventure along with the stillness, the exciting along with the dreary. To maintain hope not only for some future event, but for what God is doing in me now. Here. Today. I don't do it well, but by God's grace I will make positive progress.
And so I journey...
It's all about the relationship with Christ along the way/journey ("I am the way" says Jesus)-- amen! I love this post, Jan.
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