It was one of those wall things. Everyone has seen them in gift stores. Where people used to hang pictures on walls, they now hang a catchy collection of words conveying an inspirational or encouraging message. What caught my attention in the store was the picture of a singular tree in a field. Almost immediately I remembered the same wall thing hanging in the place where I live. Under the picture were a number of simple sentence thoughts written by Bonnie L. Mohr. I confess to not having read them until that day in the store. The very first sentence struck me powerfully. It read, "Life is not a race--but indeed a journey."
As you might note from the name of this blog--JourneyNotes--the word "journey" has become an important word for me in the last ten years of my life. I confess to having lived too much of my life as a race instead of a journey. When life is lived as a race, nothing is more important than being first, getting ahead, receiving the blue ribbons, and basking in the "atta-boys" of the competitive self-seeking ego. When life is lived as a race, a lot of important stuff gets missed because the stuff is always encountered or experienced in the twist and turns, the ups and downs of life. The important stuff is not where the road brings us to a destination, but where it takes us as we move from one juncture of our life to another.
However, the most difficult thing for this racer to swallow is that to live life as a race is to live a life that is all about me. Ouch! Even it was later than it should have been, I am grateful for the way the word "journey" has gotten firmly rooted in my life. Truly, what is important in life is not found so much in the moment of getting there as it is in the going. May God continue to grant us the grace needed to be content with the "being" instead of the "doing," with the "journeying" instead of the "racing."
As you might note from the name of this blog--JourneyNotes--the word "journey" has become an important word for me in the last ten years of my life. I confess to having lived too much of my life as a race instead of a journey. When life is lived as a race, nothing is more important than being first, getting ahead, receiving the blue ribbons, and basking in the "atta-boys" of the competitive self-seeking ego. When life is lived as a race, a lot of important stuff gets missed because the stuff is always encountered or experienced in the twist and turns, the ups and downs of life. The important stuff is not where the road brings us to a destination, but where it takes us as we move from one juncture of our life to another.
However, the most difficult thing for this racer to swallow is that to live life as a race is to live a life that is all about me. Ouch! Even it was later than it should have been, I am grateful for the way the word "journey" has gotten firmly rooted in my life. Truly, what is important in life is not found so much in the moment of getting there as it is in the going. May God continue to grant us the grace needed to be content with the "being" instead of the "doing," with the "journeying" instead of the "racing."
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