It only took two months and a weekend dedicated to scrap booking for me to finish the scrap book of my trip. Which should be good news, for those of you who have actually been hanging in there, waiting for me to start writing again. Since my plan became "finish the book to make talking easier." Although, I must say, I feel like I have been completely inundated with either talking about or focusing on my trip, since the scrapbook took so long. I can't tell you how excited I am to have the trip down on paper. I mean, now I can actually go back and easily remember what happened, to be able to talk about it again. Which is almost funny. The whole point of the trip wasn't the trip. It was the journey there. And I don't just mean the "journey" in getting to the trip. But I mean the journey while on the trip. That's why the whole "the destination is the journey" title made sense. It wasn't until just over halfway through my trip that I realized the whole import of the title I had come up with. The point wasn't the destination. Which really became clear once I got past the places where I was expected somewhere. (Aside from the motel reservations that is. Those are the only things that kept me moving on some days.) The real point of the trip was the journey. Which I am coming to realize more and more, is how it should be in life at large. It's not a matter of getting to the end of it. Life is not a race to be won. Life is found in what we do during the day to day. It's the moments and experiences that we go through. It is the parts that make the whole.
I am also seeing more and more that in the moments we feel stuck. When we're not sure which direction to go. Or we're not sure that we even have a direction at all. When we sometimes feel like we've been forgotten in the great big plan for this little place we call earth. Those are the moments where we have to make a decision. Sometimes the biggest decision we can make is whether we're going to continue to be stuck in place, or whether we're going to get off the couch. Granted, sometimes those decisions cannot be made by ourselves. Sometimes we need to stop focusing on ourselves and start focusing on God. But the point is the same. Are we going to let life pass us by? Or are we going to get on the bus and go to the next destination? I read this really cool concept in a book recently. "It doesn't matter if you're going forward or backward, so long as you're moving." It's the essence of hope. As long as you're doing instead of giving up, you have a chance at enjoying the journey to the destination. Because whether we like it or not, all of us will face the destination, the end of life. It's what happens on the way there that will allow us to say "it was good." That will allow us to get to the end and have no regrets. That will allow us to fulfill the small part that God has asked us to play in the greater scheme.
That is my hope for you today. That where ever you are, in whatever you are doing, that you will not have lost hope. That you will feel God's presence in your life. That you will be able to look forward to tomorrow with whatever challenges it might bring. That you will truly feel that you have had a worthwhile journey towards your destination. Life is happening whether you're participating or not. My hope is that you'll decide to participate.
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