It’s really not about the destination. It’s about the climb.
My kids’ friends call our neighborhood, “the roller coaster neighborhood.” We have some crazy hills. When you are driving through in a car, you can get those butterflies in your stomach, like when you ride a roller coaster. It’s very tough to ride a bicycle on; but it can be fun as well. The pedaling to get to the top is grueling, but the ride down is like flying.
I walk for exercise and it’s really quite the work out. But, I was noticing the other day that as I was struggling to make it up one of those monster hills, when I finally made it to the top, the sun was really hot up there. As I made my way down the hills, the little valleys were shady and cool. They were momentarily refreshing before I started the next climb.
It struck me how similar our physical walk can be like our life walk. We get out there and we work so hard to get to the top. We sometimes ignore the scenery along the way. We sometimes ignore the people along the way and neglect the ones closest to us in our single-minded focus on making it to the top.
And what happens when we make it there? (if we actually do) What all, and more importantly, who all, did we sacrifice along the way? What does life look like at the top? Is it worth it?
I think maybe, we need to learn to focus on the journey instead of the destination. Maybe we need to learn to appreciate the scenery along the way and more importantly, the people who we are traveling with on life’s journey. The valleys may prove to be shady and quiet. The climb itself may prove to be spectacular.
I sometimes have a hard time remembering that we are all just travelers here. We have a finite time here on earth. If you knew when your last day would be, would you have chosen to spend today differently? Would you choose to laugh more and cry less? Would you choose forgiveness over anger? Would you pray more and worry less? Would you get busy working on that bucket list? Would you be more thankful for your many blessings?
I think our human nature is to be task oriented. I know mine is. If I’m going on vacation, I want to get there the quickest route possible, so I can start having fun. But, what if I were to embrace the fact that if I’m traveling with my family to a vacation destination, from the moment we wake up, until the time we arrive to where we are going, should be fun, because it’s about an adventure together. Those family adventures don’t last forever. Children grow up. Family time with our children is finite.
I want to really learn to embrace the journey, the journey with my family and the journey with God. I want to start each day  knowing that it will lead to some kind of adventure that God has ordained for me in advance. I want to appreciate it and enjoy it and be thankful.
That’s a tall order for this task-oriented, list- making, got- to- have- a- plan girl. But, I think it’s an idea worth pursuing. Care to join me? What do you think about enjoying the journey? I’d love to hear from you.
Have an awesome day!
Wendy 🙂