Joy in the Journey

Joy in the Journey

There is a joy in the journey
There's a light we can love on the way
There is a wonder and wildness to life
And freedom for those who obey

And all those who seek it shall find it
A pardon for all who believe
Hope for the hopeless and sight for the blind

To all who've been born of the Spirit
And who share incarnation with Him
Who belong to eternity stranded in time
And weary of struggling with sin

Forget not the hope that's before you
And never stop counting the cost
Remember the hopelessness when you were lost

by, Michael Card



Woke up this morning with these words going through my head.  I walked down the aisle at my wedding, 25 years ago next month, to the instrumental version of this song. One of my favorite lines, when I picked the song all those years ago was, “There’s a light we can love on the way. There is a wonder and wildness to life, and freedom for those who obey”.   I saw our marriage as a solemn vow to follow God, together.  I was full of hope, belief and determination that we would experience joy and wonder and wildness in our journey of following God together.  And we have.

This morning, nearly 25 years of mornings later, the last part of the song is especially meaningful….the part about not forgetting “the hope that’s before you, and never stop counting the cost”.  We “belong to eternity stranded in time”.  We live in this in-between place of hoping and waiting and moving forward.  There have been many moments of “wonder” and definitely a fair measure of “wildness”.  The “freedom”, for me, continues to be hard fought, for I am stubborn and willful.  It’s a fight to stay on the journey with and towards God some days.  Some days I feel stranded. There have been so many unforeseen and unexpected twist and turns. These last few years of the journey have proven to be some of the most challenging;  requiring a sustained determination to continue trusting, hoping and believing.  There is much that I can not yet see, much that I am still waiting for.  I thought, by now, I would be different…”better”…more mature, less selfish, less proud, less self-conscious.  I thought our marriage would be the “ideal”.  I thought we would be perfect parents and our children would be perfect. I thought we would find ultimate fulfillment in our ‘calling’. There have been moments (dare I say, weeks and months) of despair, disappointment and discouragement.   But the words of the song reminded me this morning, to keep looking ahead with hope. 

And here’s what Jesus, our “Light”, still says to us:

“Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. 
Keep on seeking, and you will find. 
Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. 
For everyone who asks, receives. 
Everyone who seeks, finds. 
And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.”
-Mt 7:7-8

“…keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. 
Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured..”
-Heb 12:2