Have you ever walked down the beach in the morning as the sun is just beginning to burn away dawn’s wispy white fog, and see just a few hundred feet of beach at a time slowing being illuminated? That is a metaphor that speaks to me of life journey. For me, and I suspect for others, life is not filled with a succession of goals in sight. Sure, we know there is a headland with tide pools somewhere up ahead, but we don’t know what it looks like or what we’ll find when we get there, but that is not the point. The point, for way-farers like myself, is learning to live in the moment, discovering what there is to discover as it unfolds. The greatest lesson we can glean from this way of looking at things (at the journey, not the destination) is to place ourselves in the hands of Providence, and seek contentedness for where we are in the journey:
The seat of joy
Leads treading feet
On paths unknowing,
Yet oh so sweet.
Tread softly there
Where mists obscure
Discover joy
Simple, pure.
When mists arise,
The view is clear;
But at your feet,
Such beauty dear.
Now, perhaps,
I touch a goal:
Being fully present
For my journey-soul.
~ stc