WHERE IS THERE?

Those who have children have heard the plaint many, many times, almost too many times it seems. We’re in the car and going somewhere and from somewhere behind us we hear the cranky question “Are we there yet?”. Of course, we’re not there yet. If we were, why would we still be driving and the complainer(s) from the back seat would be now running around to drive us even more crazy.

In life there is always a there. We are going somewhere: to the store, to school, to work, to play, over the river and through the woods to grandmother’s house, wherever. Once we get there, we think we are there; and so we are, for a while anyway. Then it’s back on the road to where we came from. Another there. Life is full of journeys from here to there and back again. Sometimes, truly, when we get where we are going, we do not ever go back to from where we came.

Someone once observed that the road to success is always under construction. And the truth is that it truly is. For how do we define “success”? Probably in the same way we answer the question, “How much is enough?”. My suspicion is that those who deem themselves successful always wonder if they are really that successful, if they really do have enough. I would leave that for such to struggle with.

Another truth is life, the road through life, is always under construction. In this life we never really get there because we cannot define what that there is. We never know for sure if we have arrived there because tomorrow may move us from where we are to another there. Only in death have we finally arrived at the end of our destination. That’s when God says to us, “You’re there. You’re here. The journey is over.”

Thus, every day is a day on the road. As we go through the day, we construct that day by what we say and do. At the end of the day, we fall asleep and then wake up the next day to get on the road again: another day of construction. How well or how poorly our construction efforts are is up to us. Yes, so many others have an effect on what we are doing just as we have an effect on what they are doing, the day they are constructing. But what is ultimately important is what we are doing on our own behalf.

We can always build better, or if we have messed up the construction for the day, build back better tomorrow. If we do not, we’ll have even more work to do the next day. Yes, we need to be appreciative of the construction we did when we reflect back on the day at days end. But we must never believe that tomorrow cannot be better, that we nailed it. If sit back on our laurels and believe we have done enough, those nails will rust and our building will collapse.

Every day is a new day, an opportunity to construct it as best we can. You see, we’re never there until we’re finally there with God in eternity.