Arrival

We tend to live our lives as if we expect to arrive somewhere. You might think you will have arrived when you have more money, get a better job, find love, or build that dream home. Most of us discover that when we do make more money we just want even more. A better job can add stress or increase our desire for a better job. A new love is soon discovered to have human faults just like all the others and that dream home, well, it comes with its share of pitfalls to. Soon after we have reached what we set out to achieve we discover we haven't arrived at all and must set out for a new destination. If we can't achieve what we thought we would, we become depressed or give up on achieving anything at all.
Where is the final arrival? What is it then that we are truly searching for? If not in this world then what are we doing here?
To truly be satisfied in our daily lives we must discover that life is a journey not a destination. Arrival doesn't happen until the end when we meet our Creator face to face for the first time. But that doesn't mean we should disregard the thrill of the journey. I have noticed that this is precisely what many young people try to do. They want the destination instead of the journey-- more money, a better job, and true love, NOW. Right out of high school, at 18, they can't understand why they can't just get a career. Why shouldn't they be hired for the good paying jobs? Somehow they want to skip the gaining of experience and blink onto the destination.
As I look back on my life, those moments of striving toward a new arrival place were the most thrilling and enjoyable times in my life. Although I remember feeling frustrated, often inadequate, and even hopeless. But these times gave me the experience to really appreciate the achievements, to be prepared for pitfalls that came with them, and to share the journey with others.
I believe that is what the journey in this life is all about--- it is the time between arrivals that will help us appreciate the new life we will have with the creator. Joy in life is understanding and finding peace with the perpetual cycle of the journey knowing the true arrival is yet to come.