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Earlier this evening, I was at our local grocery store picking up produce when I ran into my sweet neighbor Susie. In the midst of conversation, she made an observation of the fact that I tend to put the miles on (my truck) when it comes to visiting people - and boy was she ever right! The more I think about it, the more I realize that I have absolutely no problem jumping in the car and taking a long drive to go visit a friend or family member for a few hours, and that I do it quite frequently. Take this past weekend for example. Monte and I took the kids to my mom and step-dad's house to spend Labor Day weekend fishing and relaxing. That's approximately 180 miles one way. Then today I spontaniously decided that Colin and I were going to go to visit my sister to have a "girls day" (Colin is NOT included in that definition!). That is approximately 45 miles. Trips like this are not all that uncommon in the day for me, especially when the kids are back in school.
After my conversation with Susie, I began to wonder if we are willing to put miles on like this in our spiritual lives. Trust me, I'm going somewhere with this, just stick with me for a bit! I have no problem driving to my sister's house because I know that while the journey is long and oftentimes monotonous and boring, the end result is that I get to be with one of my closest friends and spend precious time bonding with Tanya. How often is it that, in our spiritual lives, we start out on the journey but somehow decide that it is too hard, too boring, too monotonous, too strict, too something for us to stick it out. How many people begin that journey and never reach the destination of a true relationship with God simply because they can't endure the "miles" of changes necessary or the "miles" of unhappy moments that can happen on the journey.
I'm in the middle of the miles right now. I'm on a journey headed to an unknown destination. The wonderful part of that is the fact that I am not the one driving. I am in the passenger seat in this journey, trusting God that He will carry me through, and that He is the one driving my car. Some days are not easy. Some days I truly want to scream and shout and cry. The awesome thing is that I am not going to give up. No matter what the final destination of these miles happens to be, I am not going to pull over and retreat. God has great plans for me, who am I to interfere?!
So, though the miles seem to abound right now, I will keep on keepin' on and I will know that God is in control. As far as I'm concerned, that's all I really need to know anyway!
After my conversation with Susie, I began to wonder if we are willing to put miles on like this in our spiritual lives. Trust me, I'm going somewhere with this, just stick with me for a bit! I have no problem driving to my sister's house because I know that while the journey is long and oftentimes monotonous and boring, the end result is that I get to be with one of my closest friends and spend precious time bonding with Tanya. How often is it that, in our spiritual lives, we start out on the journey but somehow decide that it is too hard, too boring, too monotonous, too strict, too something for us to stick it out. How many people begin that journey and never reach the destination of a true relationship with God simply because they can't endure the "miles" of changes necessary or the "miles" of unhappy moments that can happen on the journey.
I'm in the middle of the miles right now. I'm on a journey headed to an unknown destination. The wonderful part of that is the fact that I am not the one driving. I am in the passenger seat in this journey, trusting God that He will carry me through, and that He is the one driving my car. Some days are not easy. Some days I truly want to scream and shout and cry. The awesome thing is that I am not going to give up. No matter what the final destination of these miles happens to be, I am not going to pull over and retreat. God has great plans for me, who am I to interfere?!
So, though the miles seem to abound right now, I will keep on keepin' on and I will know that God is in control. As far as I'm concerned, that's all I really need to know anyway!
