Journey.
He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. Philippians 1:6
The best birthday party I ever went to was one in the forth grade. I had, growing up, some of the best planned and most creative birthday parties thanks to my mom. I was a guest at a lot of pretty well thought out parties too. But this one in particular, my favorite birthday party, ended up going nothing like the ten year old's mom had planned it. A night that was meant to include a fancy dinner and movies ended with a power outage, ordered pizzas, and tent building in the living room. For that mom, the evening was probably a slight disaster, but to us pre-teens, it ended up being the funnest way to celebrate a birthday and a night I'll never forget, because instead of going with fussy plans we got to enjoy the discovering of a new and simpler journey!
I think so often in our lives, the plans take president over the journey. We have goals and the stuff we need to get done and we begin to focus on the destination. We strive so hard to just fulfill the plan, that sometimes I think we miss the point. Sometimes we miss the best parts of the journey. Like the birthday party, which would have been just like any other if we'd only stuck to the original plan, sometimes the journey God has for us is found in much simpler moments, like empty boxes of pizza and blanket forts.
We had been planning our weekend for the past six months. Meeting upon meeting, we had crafted an agenda and organized jobs. We were taking 57 teens to the mountains, with the goal to see them transformed by faith over the weekend. I had led these retreats before and knew exactly what to expect. The teens barely moved Friday night. They were all unexcited to be there and weren't afraid to show it. They stood practically motionless as the beat of the worship music filled the room. But by Sunday, that same group would be clapping, swaying, and sharing of how much they were changed by their time on the mountain with God.
And so I expected, like all the other times, that this was the journey God wanted me to go on once again this weekend as we unloaded the vans on Friday night. And I could have, I could have easily been caught up in the major transformation of the entire group. I could have taken the journey for face value and left moved by the overall picture of the weekend. But see, as I think He does on any journey, God had a simpler journey for me, hidden within. Sure, I will remember those who shared in small groups, and the teens who publicly declared their renewed faith in God. I'll cherish the hands that slowly opened up in worship and the sweet hugs and kind words. But, those journeys were all the reason we planned the weekend in the first place. Those were transformations we had expected. My heart, however was most captured by a much smaller transformation that took place in those three days.
A young man, who I'd never talked to before and very well may never talk to again, became the biggest part of my journey. He didn't say much, barely spoke at all. I thought he'd probably spend the whole weekend in silence. I worried I couldn't be who he needed me to be. And I still don't know for certain that he connected with God at all over our time amidst the trees and sun. But, I will never forget the moment on Sunday morning, when, for the only time throughout the weekend, I saw him smile. My eyes overflowed with tears. Such a simple thing, most teens there had smiled a million times throughout the weekend. This boy only once, but that was just it, once was enough. Once was enough for God to say to me, you don't have to figure out this boy's entire journey, you just have to be who he needs you to be in this moment. And, while I don't know for certain if anything I did or said this weekend brought that smile to his face, I'm positive that I was placed in his life, in his journey for a reason. And I'm beyond sure, that even if the smallest change occured in his heart or mind, than all my work and effort was worth it.
Maybe things didn't pan out like I thought it would and maybe the "to the minute" schedule didn't change things, but along the road, within the planning, God was preparing my heart to be who I needed to be for that young man.
It's funny, we spend so much time making plans, but the moments that require no real planning always seem to steal my heart. I think it's no coincidence though. God knows we want an agenda. He knows we want to know how things are going to go! And if we follow those things, well we are comfortable. But what if, on every journey, with every step, we slowed down to discover the tiny journeys God has hidden within? Maybe we won't find obvious growth. Maybe we won't know how things will change as a result. Maybe we won't do things by the book or make it exactly there on time. But I know for sure that eventually, whether we know it or not, all those times we discover the little journeys within, we are making progress on the bigger journey as well!
I can't tell you the message God has to tell you in each moment. I can't tell you what the journey He has planned for you will look like or what things will transform you. I can't tell you any of those things! But I can tell you this very truth, whatever it is, whatever step you take, wherever you go, whoever you encounter, it's all part of God's plan for you. It's so easy to get caught up in our plans, in the journey we want, and in the destination we seek! To have those goals and desires is a beautiful gift, but they aren't everything. Sometimes the next step God wants you to make is just to watch His details unfold before your eyes.
The journey, it never ends. So don't feel like you have to rush through it. Don't try to figure how everything's going to play out. Every day on the journey isn't going to look the same. Every second isn't going to be the one that changes everything. But don't be surprised that, when you least expect it, little moments will start to add up and slowly change you! Everything doesn't have to be accomplished in one day or one weekend or one year, but imagine what could be accomplished if every day we sought not to journey forward necessarily, but just deeper in relationship with Christ? What if each day, we left behind our journey and discovered the one He is taking us on? What if we let Him speak to us in the little journeys, wrapped inside the mystery of the bigger journey we are all on!
The best birthday party I ever went to was one in the forth grade. I had, growing up, some of the best planned and most creative birthday parties thanks to my mom. I was a guest at a lot of pretty well thought out parties too. But this one in particular, my favorite birthday party, ended up going nothing like the ten year old's mom had planned it. A night that was meant to include a fancy dinner and movies ended with a power outage, ordered pizzas, and tent building in the living room. For that mom, the evening was probably a slight disaster, but to us pre-teens, it ended up being the funnest way to celebrate a birthday and a night I'll never forget, because instead of going with fussy plans we got to enjoy the discovering of a new and simpler journey!
I think so often in our lives, the plans take president over the journey. We have goals and the stuff we need to get done and we begin to focus on the destination. We strive so hard to just fulfill the plan, that sometimes I think we miss the point. Sometimes we miss the best parts of the journey. Like the birthday party, which would have been just like any other if we'd only stuck to the original plan, sometimes the journey God has for us is found in much simpler moments, like empty boxes of pizza and blanket forts.
We had been planning our weekend for the past six months. Meeting upon meeting, we had crafted an agenda and organized jobs. We were taking 57 teens to the mountains, with the goal to see them transformed by faith over the weekend. I had led these retreats before and knew exactly what to expect. The teens barely moved Friday night. They were all unexcited to be there and weren't afraid to show it. They stood practically motionless as the beat of the worship music filled the room. But by Sunday, that same group would be clapping, swaying, and sharing of how much they were changed by their time on the mountain with God.
And so I expected, like all the other times, that this was the journey God wanted me to go on once again this weekend as we unloaded the vans on Friday night. And I could have, I could have easily been caught up in the major transformation of the entire group. I could have taken the journey for face value and left moved by the overall picture of the weekend. But see, as I think He does on any journey, God had a simpler journey for me, hidden within. Sure, I will remember those who shared in small groups, and the teens who publicly declared their renewed faith in God. I'll cherish the hands that slowly opened up in worship and the sweet hugs and kind words. But, those journeys were all the reason we planned the weekend in the first place. Those were transformations we had expected. My heart, however was most captured by a much smaller transformation that took place in those three days.
A young man, who I'd never talked to before and very well may never talk to again, became the biggest part of my journey. He didn't say much, barely spoke at all. I thought he'd probably spend the whole weekend in silence. I worried I couldn't be who he needed me to be. And I still don't know for certain that he connected with God at all over our time amidst the trees and sun. But, I will never forget the moment on Sunday morning, when, for the only time throughout the weekend, I saw him smile. My eyes overflowed with tears. Such a simple thing, most teens there had smiled a million times throughout the weekend. This boy only once, but that was just it, once was enough. Once was enough for God to say to me, you don't have to figure out this boy's entire journey, you just have to be who he needs you to be in this moment. And, while I don't know for certain if anything I did or said this weekend brought that smile to his face, I'm positive that I was placed in his life, in his journey for a reason. And I'm beyond sure, that even if the smallest change occured in his heart or mind, than all my work and effort was worth it.
Maybe things didn't pan out like I thought it would and maybe the "to the minute" schedule didn't change things, but along the road, within the planning, God was preparing my heart to be who I needed to be for that young man.
It's funny, we spend so much time making plans, but the moments that require no real planning always seem to steal my heart. I think it's no coincidence though. God knows we want an agenda. He knows we want to know how things are going to go! And if we follow those things, well we are comfortable. But what if, on every journey, with every step, we slowed down to discover the tiny journeys God has hidden within? Maybe we won't find obvious growth. Maybe we won't know how things will change as a result. Maybe we won't do things by the book or make it exactly there on time. But I know for sure that eventually, whether we know it or not, all those times we discover the little journeys within, we are making progress on the bigger journey as well!
I can't tell you the message God has to tell you in each moment. I can't tell you what the journey He has planned for you will look like or what things will transform you. I can't tell you any of those things! But I can tell you this very truth, whatever it is, whatever step you take, wherever you go, whoever you encounter, it's all part of God's plan for you. It's so easy to get caught up in our plans, in the journey we want, and in the destination we seek! To have those goals and desires is a beautiful gift, but they aren't everything. Sometimes the next step God wants you to make is just to watch His details unfold before your eyes.
The journey, it never ends. So don't feel like you have to rush through it. Don't try to figure how everything's going to play out. Every day on the journey isn't going to look the same. Every second isn't going to be the one that changes everything. But don't be surprised that, when you least expect it, little moments will start to add up and slowly change you! Everything doesn't have to be accomplished in one day or one weekend or one year, but imagine what could be accomplished if every day we sought not to journey forward necessarily, but just deeper in relationship with Christ? What if each day, we left behind our journey and discovered the one He is taking us on? What if we let Him speak to us in the little journeys, wrapped inside the mystery of the bigger journey we are all on!
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