Life isn’t always about destination… sometimes it’s just as much about “the journey.” When my kids were little we lived a short distance from a creek that ran through the woods. Every once in a while my kids would say to me, “Daddy, let’s go on a ‘venture’” (they couldn’t say “adventure”) and that always meant that they wanted to go down to the creek and explore. No, they weren’t asking to just go to a PLACE. They had the choice of zoos, playgrounds, parks, and museums. They were asking to go to a HAPPENING. You see, every time we went to that creek there was something new to see or a new path to explore that we hadn’t been on before. We never knew what we were in for until we got there and it happened… and that’s what the kids liked most about going on a “venture.”
We forget about stuff like that when we get older. We think life is all about arriving somewhere and fulfilling a goal, but sometimes it’s just about enjoying the journey and the discoveries made along the way.
I remember one of our “ventures” very well. We were at the creek and the kids were looking at rocks while I was scouting out a new path to take. My daughter said, “Daddy, look at this rock!” You have to understand, we were standing on the bank of this creek and millions of rocks were washed up on the shore. I had already heard, “Look at this rock, Daddy” about a hundred times as both of my kids tried to capture my attention with their discoveries. But, since this is what we did on “ventures” I decided to look her way once again. She held in her hand a totally spherical rock, perfectly round… it was an old Indian marble that was crafted by some Native American hundreds of years ago. My little girl found an Indian artifact because she was taking the time to explore the world around her… while I was looking further down the trail.
To all who are looking “further down the trail” today… take time to enjoy what’s on the path in front of you. That’s where you find the “Joy in the Journey”!
1 Timothy 6:17 (NIV)
God… richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment.
