Grateful for the Journey

Last week, as Thanksgiving dinner was cooking, Sarah asked each person in our family to share a few things for which they were thankful.

Here's what we came up with...

EK - my family, my cats, toys, a house, and a big yard
K - life, shelter,  and pets to have fun with
G - electric blankets, warm pajama pants, food, and football
David - wilderness wanderings and companions on the journey
Sarah - a God who knows us and a band of friends who have walked the road with us this year - supporting us, but more than that, supporting our children

We've all heard the saying: "The journey is the destination." What happens along the way is as important as - or more important than - what awaits at the end. Along the way, with each small choice, each attitude adjustment, each new friendship, each lesson learned, each experience gained, we grow and develop as people.

When the Hebrew people turned a two-week trek to the promised land into a 40-year walkabout in the wilderness, God took the opportunity to develop them as a people into the community God wanted them to be. When Elijah ran for his life from Jezebal and her soldiers, he hid in a cave on Mt. Horeb and encountered God in "the sound of sheer silence." When Jesus came up out of the waters of baptism, the Spirit of God announced that he was God's beloved son and then proceeded to drive him into the wilderness.

Our journey often leads us to the wilderness. This is not a distractions, not a detour, not a roadblock or wrong turn. This is exactly where the Spirit wants us, exactly where God needs us, so that we can grow more fully into the people God intends for us to be.

In her book, Braving the Wilderness, Brene Brown writes: "When we are willing to risk venturing into the wilderness, and even becoming our own wilderness, we feel the deepest connection to our true self and to what matters the most."

So, I remind myself, be grateful for the journey. Be grateful for the companions along the way. Be grateful that it is God's Spirit who leads. Be grateful for the chaos, struggle, and disorientation, for in the wilderness comes the opportunity to trust and to grow.

Oh, and don't forget: be grateful for cats and toys, shelter and football, warm pajamas, and electric blankets, too!