Have you ever seen one of those movies (there’s a ton of different ones) where a family goes on vacation and they’re driving across the country and the entire ride the kids are asking, “Are we there yet?” Real life can be like that; except not only for children. Sometimes that’s how we--grown folks--feel in our lives, too. We’re waiting for the moment when we’ve “arrived.”
The day when we’ve reached our financial goals in our business. The year we plan our wedding and get married. The day our child is born. The summer season when we’re in the best shape of our lives. The day we give that job our walking papers and retire. That moment, when everything comes together.
One thing I’ve realized recently is, often before things come together, they seemingly fall apart.
Your business, well maybe you took a loss during 2020 and had some setbacks. Your timeline to get married, now you’re over 35 and still single. Your vision for having a child, ok, so check, it happened, but it wasn’t how you planned. That summer body, it’s on backorder because you didn’t get your eating and workout schedule together this winter. Those retirement plans, put on hold because you promised your child you’d pay for a $50,000 per year college.
And here you are, in this place, where you can see your vision--the plan for your life and how you want it to unfold--and your life today looks nothing like you imagined. Yet, you have done a lot of work. You’ve made progress and you know this because you can look back and realize that you are not where you used to be.
I know sometimes I sound like a little kid in the backseat of a car, talking to my Heavenly Father asking, “Are we there, yet?” I mean, no, really. Are. We. There. Yet? If not, Lord, when will we be arriving? Cause see, it’s been 10 years of this, and 5 years of that and I am getting tired. I am getting tired of having all these visions, all these dreams that don’t seem to be coming to pass. I am happy for others, but when is it going to be my turn for my heart’s desires? Am I on punishment? Why can’t I just quit?
Do you feel me?
That’s the relationship I have with God. I get real. I ask Him questions and you know what, He responds. Not always the way I’d like, oh, but He responds. And here’s what He reminded me: Not to resist the transition.
“Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly.” - Chuang Zu (Chinese philosopher)
Before we arrive, we have some steps we have to take to get to that ever elusive, “there.” Think about it like this: When we use a GPS, there’s a map that takes us turn by turn from our starting point to our destination. Some of us, well, we selected the option that said “most turns,” and we’re on what seems like a winding road. So why resist it? Why not just own up to the fact that we are different from everyone else; or to the choices we made and the twists and turns our lives have taken so that we can forgive ourselves and keep it moving. Maybe it will take us longer to get there...so let’s make it a worthwhile trip along the way. Why not watch the sunsets and sunrises? Why not have experiences you never thought you would?
There’s always another “there,” to get to. One of the real keys to life is in understanding and accepting that there--the places you want to go--are really in here. Inside you.
Another way God speaks to me is through nature. When reminding me not to resist the transitions of life, He showed me that a caterpillar has within itself everything it needs to become a butterfly. When it's in the chrysalis and going through its metamorphosis, it doesn’t resist that in-between stage. It simply continues to grow and evolve, and become something, seemingly new, from what was already within.
I promise you, everything isn’t falling apart; as a matter of fact, everything is coming together.
You may be in a transition--at a pit stop along the highway of your life--or just coming out of your chrysalis and learning how to use your wings and fly. But, don’t get weary. Your life--and what was meant for you--isn’t going to pass you by.
Do you believe it? That’s when you’ll get there.