Dispatch 06.2022
The journey is the destination.
Choose evermore rather to have less than more.
Seek ever the lower place and to be under all.
Desire ever to pray that the will of God be all and wholly done.
Lo, such a one enter the land of peace and quiet.
-Thomas à Kempis
You Can’t Get “There” from Here
I have written around this title in the past, but deep within me, I am processing this in a different way right now.
You can’t get there from here. How does that settle with you? For me, it doesn’t settle well at all. Sure, I can get to “there” from here, because once I plug “ther” into Google Maps, there’s a route and plan. Wherever “there” is, I usually have a path forward to reach the place called “there.” “There” is always a way to get from here to “there,” and it’s forward progress. I’m not sure if that resonates with you, but that’s typically how I think. Forward…let’s go!
However, there are often realities in my life that look more like, “You can’t get ‘there’ from here.” Maybe the place I desire to be or the growth that I want to happen means that I must actually go backwards, possibly drop off some stuff I'm carrying, and wrestle with God a bit before I can move forward. The path forward just might need to start from a different place, which leads me to the realization that I can not get “there” from here. I need to be in a different place physically, mentally, and spiritually before I can press forward to get to that proverbial “there.”
“Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.” - Jesus
As I continue to pursue Jesus as an apprentice or disciple, I am constantly realizing that you can not get “there” from here. Jesus made this so clear to his disciples and those who desired to be his disciples. Whoever wants to save their life will lose it. How can we read this and not realize that we can hold onto all that we have and press forward to the destination? It’s so easy to think we just need to course correct, make these minor adjustments, and then we are “there.” But Jesus tells us otherwise.
“Truly I tell you, it is hard for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.” - Jesus
We read Jesus' words again, and we can just pass on by or try and do mental gymnastics in an attempt to comprehend it. We miss that in these times writers didn't have the tools we have to highlight or bring emphasis to words or phrases, so they used simple things like repetition. Back to back you read Jesus saying, “AGAIN, I TELL YOU.”
God, help us come back in full union with you. Help us, Lord, to know who You are, and show us who we are in You. Amen.
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