Journey before Destination

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Image Source: Emma Francis

"We are not creatures of destinations, it is the journey that shapes us" (Oathbringer)

It is amazing how often fictional stories connect with us on a deep spiritual level.

I am currently reading a series of books by Brandon Sanderson called The Stormlight Archive. In it, the heroes of the story are required to speak a series of words in order to obtain access to their powers. They then live their lives to honour their spoken words.

The first words that they speak are: "Life before death, strength before weakness, journey before destination."

While I believe I could write a blog post on why each of these sentences is pertinent as we seek God, it is the third line that resonates with me most: Journey before destination.

 We tend to spend large portions of our time thinking ahead to the end of our lives and where we want to (or don't want to) end up. While I am in no way demeaning the importance of considering our eternal future, the problem with only thinking of the end is that you tend to completely miss out on the journey that precedes it.

I remember when I first began driving, I was often so anxious to get to my destination that I would at times be completely oblivious of what was around me. These days, particularly on longer trips, I try to be fully immersed in the journey itself, enjoying the places and views that I get to experience along the way.

I am not trying to imply that life is all rainbows and butterflies. There is unfortunately plenty of bad things happening all around us every day, just as there are plenty of people with horrible intentions. But rather than seeking out the bad in people and the world, we have the choice to rather focus on the inherent goodness in the image of God that is found in every human being and the world itself.

I don't believe that human beings were created and entrusted with life on this earth to waste away our time merely concerned with our eternal destination. I believe we were created to experience life and life in abundance.

Slow down.
Be present.
Enjoy the journey.

"I have come that they may have life, and have it in abundance" 
- Jesus (John 10:10)

Comments

  1. Darrel Hofland19 July 2019 at 09:27

    Good to read your stuff again. I totally resonate with this. The joy of the journey. It's about the here and now. (Yes, we look and plan ahead for the destination) but we don't need to be obsessed about it. As the saying goes, we need to stop and smell the roses, along the way. And totally agreed, there is pain and heartache too, we push through that. We wrestle and deal with it. And as believers, we have this untold strength and peace that God gives us to handle the tough moments. Thanks Joe for this.

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