“Life is a journey, not a destination,” is a quote often attributed to Ralph Waldo Emerson. Great sentiment, but there seems to be some debate about whether or not he said those exact words. A more accurate quote from Emerson is, “…to find the journey’s end in every step of the road, to live the greatest number of good hours, is wisdom.” There is a lot more “meat” in this quote, especially when we put it into the context of Advent and Christmas. The “journey’s end” is the discovery or rediscovery of Jesus, “God with us”. But we take this journey every year with the knowledge that Jesus came, that God is in fact, with us. So the real challenge is indeed to “find the journey’s end in every step of the road.” It is there…do we know how to see it, to acknowledge it? Can we find Christ in every breath we take, in every step along the road? I particularly like the end of the quote ….referring to the greatest number of good hours. We are imperfect creatures in an imperfect world. We all know that on some level, but we still expect far too much from ourselves and from those around us. During this Advent season, let’s just take a deep breath and shoot for the greatest number of good hours. Or maybe the greatest number of hours doing “good”. That is good enough.
On the paper chain, Mary and Joseph are still on the road to Bethlehem and so are we. For now, let’s try to see the journey’s end in every step and enjoy the good hours.
Luke 2:4-5 Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David. 5He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child.
Grace and Peace at Advent
Myra
M