Are We There Yet - Extended Notes

As you are aware by now the blog/email subscription formerly known as Daily Thoughts has been re-named Life’s Journey Notes (LJN). It still retains the ethos of getting a message cross in 100 words or less. In most cases the outcome follows a process of longer jottings about the issue in question. So those 100 words may very well have been 110 maybe 150 and in some wild cases a lot more before the pain-staking editing process comes in to bring it in line. From time to time the material that inspires that particular thought might actually be worth looking at in full ad that was definitely the case today. What follows are the thoughts that were cut down to make the finally LJN which you can read here. That is, unless you’ve come here from that thought in which case this will give some insight into some of the process that produces the final product.

We must keep our eyes on Jesus, who leads us and makes our faith complete. (Hebrews 12:2a)

The scenario is typical. The family are out on a holiday and the beleaguered parents are cooped up in the car with their three squabbling, quarrelling offspring. As they get stuck in the motorway pile-up the children shift their focus from each other to their parents and ask that question again and again ‘are we there yet?’ For the umpteenth the father says that they will be there soon and need to look out and play ‘I Spy’ with the glorious countryside. Sometimes there is impatience on our part for a lot of things – are we comfortable yet, do we have enough money yet, are our children well behaved yet, is our spouse together yet, can I get over this annoying habit yet, have Liverpool won the Premier League yet? Often the somewhat depressing answer is in the negative, but having a destination in mind should not lead us to be frustrated or morose. The goal is the bright light at the end of the tunnel that draws us on and the journey is about seeing the light shine even in the darkest places and holding onto that faith that says that we will get there – even if we are not there yet!

There are two schools of thought when it comes to the journey business. One school says it’s all about the destination and nothing else matters. The end justifying the means there is little time for reflection and contemplation and much push for reaching the finishing line as quickly as possible. The second school is more obsessed with the journey and is all about enjoying the journey and making the most of what we’re going through and where we’ve come from and how we can make progress and nattering about other people’s journeys and how the process is the thing. As ever, a healthy approach would be somewhere in the middle. Life would be pointless if there was no destination especially if the only one was death. It would also be soul-destroying if nothing on the trip mattered except reaching the destination. This is where the key verse comes in as the Light that shines is also the one who leads us and makes our faith complete – we can trust Him on the journey and He is our destination.

For His Name's Sake
Shalom
dmcd