joy along the way

When I was a kid, we would go on road trips. Some were long (from California to Montana), while others were short (from home to Mt. Hermon or to Sunset Beach - a couple hours). It didn't matter how long or short, I couldn't wait to get to the destination. The trip itself was boring. We didn't have electronics to keep us busy. We had to look out the windows. Or play the alphabet game. Or find license plates of all 50 states (stupid Hawaii). 

As I became a grown up, I realized that there was enjoyment in the road trip itself. I now pack the car with all kinds of junk food, load up on caffeine, play DJ with the radio stations, and look out the windows. Sometimes we make pit stops along the way in interesting little cities or at fruit stands or unique restaurants. The journey has now become part of the vacation.

And such is life.

Sometimes we get so caught up in where we are trying to get to or to attain our next goal, that we forget to see the beauty along the way. We focus so much on the end result that we get impatient and forget to enjoy the process of getting there.

Here's a small scale example: some days when I homeschool, I can't wait to get everything checked off the to-do school list. I'm pushing the kids to keep working, to quit messing around, and to get it done. But if I slow down a bit, I am exposed to the incredibly humorous things that come out of my 6 year old son's mouth. He is a crack up! And I cannot express the happiness I feel when I hear my daughter sit at the piano and practice her lesson...without complaining!! People, anything done without complaining around here is a huge deal! As my two kids play together, I hear them giggle and use their imaginations together - I'm watching them build a close relationship as brother and sister. Priceless! I don't want to miss those things simply because I want to be done with school.

And then there's the long term example: overhauling a house. We have lived in this house for a couple of years now. I look around and see all that needs to be done around here. Our last house had numerous upgrades done to it: we lived there for 9 years! Moving in here was like starting from scratch. But we have done improvements and I try to enjoy them now that we have them. It's so easy to look at what I don't have instead of seeing all that I have been given.

The hardest part about finding joy in the journey is that you have to look for it. But the best part is finding it because then the journey is so much more enjoyable. 

KC