The Journey

I love books.

Interesting way to start a post about a journey, right?

I’ve always loved books, always been writing stories. Through the years I have made many a friend who shared my love of books and writing.  One day, while chatting with one of these friends, she told me that when she goes to read a book, she flips to the end and reads the last page. That way, she’ll know if she likes it or not.

*perplexed face*

“Uh, but then you know the ending. What fun is reading the story if you already know how it ends? You miss the whole journey of the characters. You miss out on…. everything.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ever wanted to do that with your own life? Pick it up like a book and flip to the last page, to see how it ends? Or maybe at least flip to the interesting chapters, where the answer to today’s questions are found (Who/when will I marry? How many kids will I have? Where will we live? Will I succeed in starting that career?).

Wouldn’t that be fun?

Oh, sure, maybe.  But you’d miss out on the journey. You’d skip how you got there. You’d miss the lessons, the laughs, the tears, the victories along the way. Really, the journey is the most important part of the story. How interesting would it be to read a story that went “Once upon a time, there was a princess. She was in distress, but then the prince came and they lived happily ever after.” Whew, that’s a good ending! 

The journey is what makes us appreciate the end of the story. God wants us to go on a journey. He wants us to learn lessons, experience ups and downs, have victories, have defeats, draw ever closer to Him. Because the real end of the journey isn’t in wedding vowsor cute little houses or building a successful career. The End of the journey comes when we reach Heaven and Jesus says “Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou hast been faithful in a few things; I will make thee ruler over many things. Enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. {Matthew 25:20-21}” The journey is where we are faithful in a few things, serving our Lord.

Wishing we could skip to the end won’t get us there any faster.

It won’t be easy. Then again, He never said it would be.

 But the journey is worth it.

*This was originally published on my personal blog*