Life Is about Our Journey, Not Our Achievements.
The road that takes us there is the one we’ve paved.
Archimedes, a famous astronomer, physicist, engineer, inventor, and mathematician in ancient Greece, said, “The shortest distance between two points is a straight line.”
Proverbs 16:9 says, “God draws straight paths with crooked lines.”
In life, we are more inclined to experience the latter. Life goes along; it veers, twists, and turns and makes us feel like we are going around in circles or that we’re totally off course.
That we’ve gotten nowhere.
That we’ve achieved nothing. But we’re not giving ourselves enough credit, and we’re looking at our lives from a very limited perspective.
By the time we are adolescence, we begin to identify with a tribe and form a microcosm of society. We strive to fit in, achieve, and live up to ideals.
These ideals might not be ours, but we are more concerned with how others judge us than how we judge ourselves.
If you don’t fall into this trap, you’re way ahead of the curve.
I am not.
Point of View
I’ve done and continue to do a lot of comparison checks over the years. I look at where I live, what I have, and the life I’ve created. And think to myself, “Is this it? How pathetic.”
I look at my condo. I agonize over the upgrades I want, the sad condition of my window sills thanks to the cats, and even the size. I think of my job and the pitiful pandering it entails to those who feel their lives should be tangle-free.
But time and again, people visit my home and comment on the views of the ocean, front and back — the character of the place, features only a 100-year-old building has.
The last time it happened convinced me of one thing: it’s my perspective that’s wrong.
I am where I should be.
Everyone is.
And this means you.
Value who you are, not what you have.
If the past year has taught us anything, it’s to value the people in our lives. But first, we must value ourselves.
It’s not what we do; it’s how we do it that makes us who we are. You can make a difference no matter what your occupation is, where you lives, or what you own.
A year ago, if you worked in a grocery store, you probably considered your job unimportant.
Today, you are considered a hero, risking your life so people can eat. But your job has always been important. It’s your perspective that was wrong.
You and your profession has always been of significance.
I, for one, am grateful to you. If you think of it, your job hasn’t changed, though now it is riskier. You have always been providing a vital service and should have been proud of it right along. You have made a difference in the lives of your customers. Some may have been grateful to you for years.
For your smile. Or your kindness.
Or your impeccable character.
The Goal of Life is the Journey.
Ultimately, our destination, our goal in life is the journey itself. What we learn and who we touch along the way.
It’s not the stuff we’ve been able to buy along the way.
It’s the story of who we were and how we became who we were that matters.
It’s the story of how we strived, met challenges, failed, fell down, and got up.
Each of us leaves a different picture that tells a different story. But each story is a part of the landscape of life. We all paint different pictures using different pallets. Some of us may use black and white as opposed to color.
And all this does is paint a different picture, not a better or worse one.
Life’s only goal is to shape us and for us to shape the world in return. Shapes are as numerous as drops of water in the ocean, and all are a part of the same magnificent masterpiece.
I don’t think of my life as adventurous, but it has certainly been a journey when I think back to my earliest memories.
Everything that has happened has made me, me.
And all the things in your life, good and bad, have conspired to make you, you.
There isn’t another you, and there never will be.
Going Forward
As we say good-bye, thank God! to 2020, it’s time to look back on how this year shaped us.
Changed us.
Did you rise to the occasion?
Did you learn?
I certainly did. I learned that I need people and to be around them more than I ever could have imagined. I had always thought of myself as independent.
I am not.
I learned who my real friends were and that they were better friends than I ever could have imagined. One in particular. I was there for them, and they responded by being there for me.
I learned and observed more than any other time in my 62 years how the worst brings out the best in some people and the absolute worst in others. Sadly, we’ve all experienced the latter.
Events have unfolded for a reason. Our lives have significance, and the world would be a different place without us in it.
You and I are apart of a great journey and a great story.
It’s called life.
And if you’re reading this, it isn’t over yet.
Go forward into 2021 with pride in the person you’ve become or the person who survived.
And be glad you’re still here!
