This morning as I was walking across campus I encountered a mom who was trying to get someplace — the problem was that she was trying to get there via the walkway that runs between the Health Center and the Student Success Center, and then trying to make a left turn onto the Woodward legacy walk. If you’re not familiar with FSU’s campus, none of these are roadways – they are walk ways that just so happen to be wide enough for the late model BMW that she was driving.
I motioned for her to roll down her window and I asked, “where are you trying to get?” The reply was “Dorman”. She wasn’t too far away, to be honest. The only problem was, she still couldn’t get there from where she was. The roads just didn’t allow her to go that way. I gave her directions and I’m hoping that she arrived there in just a little bit of time.
Sometimes our lives feel like that mom trying to get to Dorman. We have an idea of where we want to go. We might even be pretty close to our destination. But we still find that we can’t get there from here. We get frustrated that we can see our goal, but we can’t arrive and unlike in a game of horseshoes – close doesn’t count.
Almost peace, almost joy, almost integrity, almost courage, almost love…the list of “almosts” can keep going. But almost isn’t arrival. And we want arrival.
At this moment, Jesus comes up to our car as we frustratedly bang on the steering wheel. “Where are you trying to get?” He says with a degree of pity and earnest desire to help us. “You can’t get there from here,” He tells us. The sad reality is that we always end up at “almost” unless we travel His direction. It’s not that where we want to go is bad (usually), it’s just that we can never get there because we’re trying to go the wrong way. Our destinations are good: peace, joy, integrity, courage, love, etc. We just need someone who can tell us how to get there.
The beautiful thing about Jesus is that he doesn’t just give directions like I gave that mom. Instead, He climbs in the car with us. He points out the way and readjusts the directions every time we make a wrong turn. Why? Because Jesus wants us to arrive – not just get to almost.
So listen to Jesus today whisper into your soul, “Where are you trying to get?” and tell Him, and then wait for Him to begin to reveal the way to arrive – not just almost arrive.