Enjoy the Journey

Chuckle: (church bulletin blooper): "For those of you who have children and don't know it, we have a nursery downstairs."

Quote: "If there is a sin against life, it consists perhaps not so much in despairing of life as in hoping for another life and eluding the implacable grandeur of this life." --Albert Camus

ENJOY THE JOURNEY

"I have come that they (you) may have life, and (that you may) have it to the full (more abundantly)" (John 10:10 NIV/KJV).

I'll never forget a very special week-long trip that Dotse and I enjoyed a few years back. We had a wonderful time visiting numerous family members. My brother and I spent one day revisiting the old home-sites where our grandparents and other relatives lived when we were children. We just wallowed around in the wonderful memories these old home places hold for us. My emotions ran the gamut from sadness that those times are gone forever and extreme joy brought by all the precious memories.

As Dotse and I were traveling, I began to compare our trip to the journey through life that each of us experience. I suppose most of us like to take trips to see relatives and to enjoy visiting amazing displays of God's wonderful creation. But I wonder how many of us are so preoccupied with the final destination that we fail to enjoy the journey. We both were excited that we would see loved ones, some of whom we hadn't seen in many years. We couldn't wait to get to our destination. But as we drove, the beauty of the mountains and countryside and the people we met along the way made the journey most enjoyable and fulfilling.

In our hustle and bustle world, we are prone to do everything as quickly as we can. We hurriedly drive, or fly, to our destination without giving much thought to the journey itself. In fact, we often dread the journey. But the journey can be a most wonderful experience if we will just slow down, relax, and soak up the wonderful blessings and experiences God has for us along the way.

When we begin our spiritual journey as a child of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, we can know for certain what our final destination will be at life's end. It's wonderful to contemplate what heaven will be like and to search the Scriptures for word pictures of our eternal dwelling place. But when Jesus gives us the abundant life, he intends for that abundance to be enjoyed here on earth during our pilgrimage toward spiritual maturity and our final destination. He wants our journey to be filled with his blessings, his peace, and his joy. He wants us to experience him to the fullest every day we live.

How about you? Are you living the joyful and exciting life that God intends as you journey through this earthly life? Or are you so focused on your final destination that you don't see what God has prepared for you every day that you live? Please take the time to consider that Jesus gives you abundant and full life and he gives it right now. It is eternal, yes, but it begins immediately. Life in Christ is to be lived on a higher plane because of his love and forgiveness. We should all enjoy our journey of life with God's Word as our guide and with the Spirit of the Living God himself by our side. 

Love, Jerry & Dotse