Journey before Destination

-

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.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular Posts

Leap of Faith

-
Image
I recently did the Lake Eland Extreme Zip-line with some of my friends from Pietermaritzburg. The zip-line is 1 100 meters long and reaches max speeds of up to 160km's per hour. All that is keeping you from falling hundreds of meters to an inevitable death is 2 cables and a harness that my hysterical brain was telling me would not have been out of place as a car's seat-belt. We arrived early and waited for half an hour as we contemplated our life choices up to this point. Eventually we were all kitted up and ready to go. While I wouldn't say that I have Acrophobia - an extreme fear of heights - as I looked out over the gorge that we would be flying through, breaking the national speed-limit in the process, it is fair to say that my stomach started churning and my legs turned to jelly. It was at this point that I'm sure many of us were trying to think of any reasonable excuse that would get us out of this jump without seeming like a coward. One of the thin
Read more

The God of Running, Talents and Passions

-
Image
Over the past couple of months I have developed a passion for running.  I am not terribly good at it and I doubt I will take it very far, but something about training hard over the past couple of months has spiked an enthusiasm in me that I cannot really explain. It is during my time running on the road when I am able to clear my mind from stress and think about all the things God has been doing in my life. Image Source:  Lucas Favre Yesterday I completed my first full marathon.  It was one of the most difficult things I have ever done, but it felt good to complete something that I had worked so long and hard to accomplish. Some of you might be wondering why someone would run for hours, putting themselves through extreme pain just to receive a T-shirt and a medal. I don't blame you. I used to wonder the same. Not everyone is passionate about the same thing. Not everyone has the same talents or skills. But I believe that God blesses everyone with talents,
Read more

Harmony of Grace

-
Image
Image Source:  张 学欢 Why did I decide to start this blog? Why call it Harmony of Grace?  One definition for the word harmony is "living in peace and mutual understanding with others." I have always been fascinated with music and in my opinion, the musical definition of the word harmony has a more accurate depiction of the word's true meaning. In musical terms, a harmony is "a note or group of notes that compliment the notes in the melody (main tune of the song)." There are many different possible harmonies, but if played/sung correctly, they all compliment the melody and emphasize the beauty of the musical arrangement as a whole. When I had my first encounter with Jesus, the concept of harmony became much more real in my life. But how does harmony have anything to do with God's grace? I believe that God's grace can be seen in the world we live in, through various means, as a complimentary harmony to God's nature an
Read more