Are we there yet?

 

 

Somewhere in time, every day, in every city, in every country, some child is asking a parent – are we there yet?  We are less captivated with the journey; instead the focus is on the destination. I’m so bad when I travel somewhere, I don’t like to stop for any reason. The destination is the goal and I don’t want to be sidetracked.  The same is true for events.  I know when I have a vacation planned, the days working to get to the vacation are a struggle, I want the vacation to come sooner.

The problem for many of us is a lack of patience.  We don’t want to wait, we want what we want and we want it know. 

Galatians 5:22-23 (NIV) “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.”

God listed patience as a spiritual virtue because he knew that some humans, me for example, would struggle with this.  He wanted us to know that it’s important.  How can we show love, joy, peace, kindness when we are impatient?  

The minute we are born, we set out on the journey that God as designed for us from before the world began.  He knows the times we stray from the path he lay out.  He created another path to get us back on track.  He plans for us to learn and grow and love him more. God is very patient, never giving up on us and always giving us opportunities to learn more. Many times we are so busy just moving through life, we forget to enjoy the journey or appreciate what God is teaching us.

This week, I have been rushing through work. I have so much to do, but I want to take a week off, so I am inpatient for this week to end. God has a lesson for me this week and sometimes when God wants to tell me something, he has a song run through my mind.  I tend to perk up when a song catches my attention.

The song on my mind this week was about our journey to Heaven. As Christians, if we think about it, our journey ends in the ultimate destination – Heaven. It struck me as odd that this seems to be the one destination we aren’t in a hurry to arrive at even though it will be better than anything we can imagine.  If we are not in a hurry to reach heaven, then what else should we be in a hurry about? 

All my hurrying to get somewhere or do something many times has little to do whith my eternal journey. This song reminded me that I am a pilgrim passing through.  My journey here should be more about what I can bring into my eternal kingdom, than what I can leave in my earthly one. The point of my life’s journey is to discover in what ways I can demonstrate the goodness of God to those around me.  By doing this, when I arrive in heaven, I will come bearing gifts for the heavenly King.      

Steven Curtis Chapman - Long Way Home (Slideshow with Lyrics) from steven-curtis-chapman on GodTube.