Jeremiah 6:16 “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls.”
A Chinese proverb tells us that ‘the journey is the reward’. The verse above tells us that we will find rest for our souls as we choose to journey along the ancient paths, the tried and true ways that God had revealed to his people. Our journey with Christ requires that we be fully present in the present, not obsessing about how things will eventually turn out.
John Eldredge writes: “Thinking of life as a journey reminds me to stop trying to set up camp and call it home. It allows me to see life as a process, with completion somewhere down the road. Thus I am freed from feeling like a failure when things are not finished, and hopeful that they will be as my journey comes to its end. I want adventure, and this reminds me I am living in it. Life is not a problem to be solved; it is an adventure to be lived.”
There are two kinds of mountain climbers. Both journey along the same path in the same direction to the same place. But the ‘frantic-achiever-climber’ misses the whole experience. The stunning vistas wash right over him. The smells, the sounds, the camaraderie are often wasted on him as he pursues his goal. Robert Pirsig says of him: “His talk is forever about somewhere else, something else. He’s here but he’s not here. What he is looking for, what he wants, is all around him, but he doesn’t want that because it is all around him.”
The destination matters, and it helps orient and direct our daily steps; but there’s no need to run ahead and miss the blessings of the journey today.
Lord, help me to relish the joys of today’s journey without obsessing about the destination. Amen!
Leave a Reply