I’ve heard the saying, “Life is a journey, not a destination” by Ralph Waldo Emerson, ever since I was just a little girl.

It’s as if I was born with a “go” switch that God cleverly “forgot” to program me with “pause”, “slow down”, or “stop”! {Ha ha!}  However, because I believe that God doesn’t make mistakes & that He’s created me in “go” mode, I choose to believe that He is daily perfecting me; I just need to allow Him to do that!

So how about that journey?

I don’t know what your journey looks like, but at the moment, mine looks a lot like a highway with lots of off-ramps along the way; it’s pretty busy & goes many different directions! I love my very-full life, yet sometimes I get tired of constantly striving toward a destination & forget to focus on the moment… you know, the journey vs. the destination!

James 4:13-16 talks about how foolish it is for us to make plans for the future, when we aren’t guaranteed tomorrow!

“What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.” James 4:14

Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 talks about there being a time for everything & while I’ve read it many times over the years, I never really stopped to think about how it clearly focuses on the journey & not solely the destination!  After all, without the journey there IS no destination!

Truth is, when I get wrapped up in the destination, I lose site of what God’s doing here & now. I play God. I assume that my little tiny brain has the ability to see into the future & figure out what the destination will actually look like.  When I focus on the destination, I miss the beauty of today: the lessons God’s teaching me & the building blocks He’s putting in place to prepare me for what lies ahead.  By focusing on the destination, I presume that I have the understanding of how God is going to make something happen & that my friend is so, very wrong!

Lately, in the midst of God teaching me to REST, I find Him also teaching me to focus more on the journey & less on the destination.

Jeremiah 29:11 says “For  I  know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”  (emphasis by me)

So today I’m choosing to take a step back. No, I won’t stop dreaming, I won’t stop planning & I won’t stop forging ahead. But I will start focusing more on this beautiful journey & less on the destination.

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Matthew 6:34

Instead, I want to live my life for today, as if this journey I’m on right now is all He created me to do & be!