It's Not Where I'm Going

I’m a dreamer. There’s no denying it. Ever since I can remember, I’ve always had a goal in mind, something I was striving toward, someone I wanted to be, somewhere I wanted to go. I still continue to dream…constantly. And, quite honestly, I find much of my drive, passion, and enthusiasm in my dreams.

But what I f I stopped dreaming? What if the dreams stopped coming?

And what if I never saw my dreams fulfill?

It can be tough for me to admit those possibilities. But maybe it’s time for me to realize that my main reason to live is not to dream or to see my dreams unravel; but rather to embrace my relationship with Jesus Christ…to realize HE is enough for me. HE is my dream come true. HE is my fulfillment.

It’s easy to write that –but how about I start living and thinking that way?

It’s not about where I’m going…but truly about WHO is going with me.

Longsuffering.

Longsuffering.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about taking time to care about the people around us and showing them they matter –this past week, I was really task-oriented, and I honestly wanted to chew up the people around me. I didn’t want to be nice, or smile –I just wanted to get my list of things done. Nothing –and nobody- was going to stand in the way of my promising accomplishment. In the back of my head, I knew my sudden determination was just a mask for a desire that none burst my bubble of desired solitude. Whatever happened to joy? Whatever happened to patience? Whatever happened to love?

A couple days later my supervisor shared with the staff a devotional about not forgetting the people that surround us, even when we are swamped with work, just wanting to please our boss and getting ‘ir done. Then I received a letter from a family member that moved me to dwell on the sad fact that it is easy to forget those that matter through the busyness of life.

This morning, I noticed in a horse her beautiful, sweet, servant-hearted look in her eye and mentioned it to friends with me. One of them agreed and described it as “longsuffering.” Later, on my way home, I couldn’t get the word out of my head. Longsuffering –such a powerful word when we think about it. It reminds me a lot of the often quoted “Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. But whether there are prophecies, they will fail; whether there are tongues, they will cease; whether there is knowledge, it will vanish away (from I Corinthians 13). No wonder it made it to the ranks of the Fruit of the Spirit! It’s one of the things I should be becoming more and more. That’s what I should be more and more towards my family, my friends, my roommate, my co-workers…strangers. That’s how God is toward us –toward me.

Longsuffering.