journey

(This is not a tribute to the band! Thanks for playing.)

Life is a journey. Ok, so you've heard that before. But do you live your life in a way that believes it? Or are you constantly trying to "arrive" at some destination? Destinations like success (in work, ministry, marriage, school...)? Try writing out your definition of success and then ask if that is really what success looks like. Destinations like financial stability/security (how much is that?), popularity (who is it you're trying to impress?), a good job, perfect banner-roll athletic-star popular kids, volunteer-of-the-year... These are some of the things many people strive for. They really believe that if they could just get to "that place" (whatever "that place" is to them), then their lives will be so much better. The problem I've found with this is that when you do arrive wherever it is you're trying to get, you find two things to be true: 1. it's not as awesome as you'd dreamed it up to be, and 2. you've missed out on a lot of life along the way.

I used to strive a lot. I still do a little, but I'm trying to learn to "stop and smell the roses" more. Many of the roses along my life's journey have been a blur of color in my periphery. Why? Because I was trying to arrive! And frustration began to mount because I realized that I might never arrive like I hoped, and as I found myself close to arriving I realized the truth of those two things I mentioned in the last paragraph. So, I'm working on enjoying the journey more. I'm spending more time with my family. I'm discussing thoughts on life and the journey of it with others - how we can experience life fully (really - not just modify our behavior and call it living), and how we can live our lives truly in Christ so that others will really be drawn to him in us instead of being turned off by our religiosity.

to be continued...