The Journey

There are few things in this life of which I am certain.  First, with God ALL things are possible.  Second, there are no chance encounters.  Third, hindsight is 20/20.

These  revelations have been reinforced in the fabric of my faith the past few months.  Funny, how you can walk through a situation and feel like your whole world is unraveling; and then look back at it and realize everything was really coming together. 

All things are possible with God… even the unexplainable, the illogical and the untouchable.  God, being all powerful, could simply zap us into whatever position He wanted, but He doesn’t work that way…at least not in my life.  It’s about the journey, I think.  The lessons often lie in what we learn on the pathway toward our destination, and not in the destination itself.  See, every ending is really the next beginning to a new journey.  So, in a sense, there are no “destinations,” but rather, resting spots along the way.

One thing I’ve come to strongly believe is that life is all about people and our encounters with them.   These encounters aren’t always easy…in fact, they can be very difficult.  It is often times more comfortable to hide and interact as little as possible, or turn a blind eye and a deaf ear when someone annoys us or we don’t understand them, than to risk being sucked into their drama and dragged down by their negativity.  It is tempting to take the easy road instead of the high road.  I’ve been guilty of this many times, and I always end up regretting it.  See, if we aren’t on this planet to interact and reach out to one another… why are we here?  Aren’t we supposed to be living for the purpose of loving others?  Aren’t relationships more important than anything else we acquire?

Jesus said, “faith, hope and love; but the greatest of these is love.”  When I read the Bible I tend to look not only at what is said, but at what is NOT said.  Jesus didn’t say, “the greatest of these is love, when it’s convenient, or easy or feels good.”    I often feel convicted by those words because there are people in my life that are just plain difficult to love.  They’re mean, cold, distant, hurtful and sometimes downright hateful; and I don’t want to love them.  It’s impossible for me, but then I remember that with God ALL things are possible.  He tenderizes my heart and gives me the strength to love those that I don’t really like.  He gives me the strength to reach out to them even when they have hurt me.

I’ve come to realize that each person I encounter gives me something unique….something only they could give me.  Whether it’s a smile when I need it most or a heartfelt story that changes my perspective on life, or a word of wisdom; they’re placed in my path for a reason, and I, in theirs.  It may last only a moment, a week, a month or a lifetime; but the encounter is meaningful nonetheless. 

Life is hard and it’s easy to become jaded and shut off areas of our heart that have been wounded.  It’s easy to convince ourselves that we have a right to be aloof and mean, when we don’t understand what is happening.   It’s easier to point a finger, to judge and accuse others of wrongdoing, than it is to look in the mirror and take responsibility for our own shortcomings.   It’s easier to be calloused and cold, than open up and admit we were wrong.   But… with God all things are possible.  There are no chance encounters… because God uses people to touch, enlighten, restore and rebuild other people.   It’s the experience that holds the lesson, and if we turn our back on the experience, simply because it is foreign to us, we miss out on the growth that comes from the journey.    ~