You will show me the path of life; In Your presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore. ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭16:11‬ ‭NKJV

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I love the metaphor of journey. The thought that a life, a season, a relationship, a faith – any experience at all – is a journey.

I remember Don Miller (in his book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years), writing about what it was like to canoe across a lake – the shore was so far off, and then after a whole lot of paddle strokes, suddenly you arrived. Journeys are like that. It seems to take so long – the destination is so many days or miles or steps or paddle strokes away – until suddenly you arrive. It didn’t seem sudden while you were still journeying, but then it was. Arrival. Journey’s-end. Completion.

The danger with any journey is that you will focus on the arrival. You will long for it, hope for it, continually work toward it, and in the suddenness of its arrival, you will know that you missed a lot by not being present for the journey. By not slowing down and noticing the paddle strokes as they piled one on top of the other.

Lent is a season of journey. Slowly, through days that can seem to bleed together and last far too long, we journey towards the joy of Easter. Of the empty tomb. Of the conquering of death. Of the triumph of sacrificial love, laying itself down for us once again, and rising back up again, to claim eternal victory and give it away to you and me.

Easter is the destination – and it is one glorious destination – but let’s not miss the journey for the sake of the destination. Our steps between now and then matter. Each day, each moment, each paddle stroke, has something to teach us, spiritual riches to impart.

This Lent, I hope you’ll journey with me. I’ll do my best to post regularly, to share some of my steps, and to encourage yours. And may we both find that our Master walks with us, every step of the way.