The Journey is the Destination

Our retirement plans include traveling across the country and into Canada in our motorhome while exploring National Parks and other wonders of nature. We’ve wandered through the southwest desert, climbed the hills at Mesa Verde, gaped at the mud pots and boiling springs in Yellowstone, hiked on red clay trails at Arches National Park, enjoyed the snow-covered craggy peaks at Glacier National Park, explored the Canadian Rockies, and had a dozen other adventures. We have taken at least two long trips a year that last six to eight weeks each as we happily check destinations off our bucket list. We were discussing our tentative itineraries for spring and fall trips last year when Covid 19 brought our travels to a screeching halt. Many of the attractions at our anticipated locations were completely shut down or only partially opened. So, we put our travel plans on hold and focused on the possibilities closer to home. 

I had been working for several years on a book about the strategies I created to cope with fibromyalgia that eventually resulted in complete remission of my symptoms. I had written a few pages off and on and then put it aside for weeks at a time. Galivanting around the country in our motorhome was more fun than the hard work of producing an entire book. During this past year of interrupted travel plans, I finally finished writing it. Vic contributed his medical perspective to each chapter. We finished Practical Priorities for Fibromyalgia Recovery during our quarantine year. The book was released on January 25, 2021 and is available on amazon.com and at your favorite bookstore. You never know what might happen when the plans you have are disrupted by the new plans you create. Life is an adventure.

Vic and I have been on our grand adventure together for over forty-eight years. We served as missionaries in Colombia, South America for six years, traveled on numerous volunteer mission trips, worked in our local church, raised two wonderful children, and have been blessed with six grandchildren. I have taught first grade and high school Spanish, been a freelance writer, and worked in Vic's medical office. Vic worked in an ER, practiced family medicine in a small town for thirty years, and taught medical students in a rural medicine program. There have been times of doubt, renewed faith, debilitating sickness, recovered health, heavy sorrow, inexplicable joy.

So where do we go from here?  And how will we know when we get there?  Well, I have to admit that is kind of a trick question. You see, I don't think we ever get there. The journey is the destination. Followers of Jesus, the Son, never arrive because there is always more to learn of him along the way. Those who believe in God the Father, find new revelations of the loving Creator each day. His mercies are new every morning. When we are guided by the Holy Spirit, we can rest assured that whatever the future holds, his grace will be more than sufficient for us.

We have had our first Covid vaccine so things are looking up on the viral front. I have no idea what this year will bring, but I know one thing for certain. We will continue to greet each new day with joyous expectation of what it may hold. We will pray that God will show us more of who he is and teach us to be more of who he has created us to be. We will sit in our rocking chairs in the sunroom drinking our morning hot ginger tea and chat about anything and everything while we gaze out the windows into the beautiful woods behind our home. Maybe we will pack up the motorhome and travel out into the wide waiting world. I hope we will get to laugh with our grandchildren, visit our family, have friends over for dinner, read a book, maybe even write another one. Most of all we will be thankful for the journey no matter where the destination leads, because we know that the blessing of living this life together in God's love, peace, hope, and grace is everything.

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