We’re all familiar with the tale of the child on a family vacation who can’t seem to stop asking “Are we there yet?” If we’re honest, most of us have probably felt like that child at one time or another. Even before we start our journey, we’re often picturing the blissful days that we plan on enjoying. We talk with friends about our plans to sit on the beach, hit the slopes, or to spend time with loved ones. We anticipate the feelings of relaxation that will penetrate our bodies and rejuvenate our spirits. Once we’re on our way, we can hardly wait to get there.
For the Christian, we know that our entire life is a journey towards a destination that greatly overshadows even the most wonderful of vacations. And just like the child who is eagerly looking forward to getting to where they want to be, we should be eagerly anticipating the Place that awaits us. We must live life on this Earth with our eyes firmly focused on our final destination – not only because it will help us make choices in light of eternity, but because it will make put the temporary concerns of this Earth firmly in perspective. Just as a child doesn’t worry about the sniffles she woke up with or the previous day’s skinned knees when they are fixated at their impending trip to Disneyland, so we will rightly focus, not on the trials that we currently experience, but on the permanent goodness that awaits us.
As C.S. Lewis once wrote that “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did the most for the present world were precisely those who thought most of the next. It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this one.”
May our eyes be focused on our final destination so that we do the most good while we are on our journey to there.