Journey and destination, purpose and result

In a conversation with some good friends recently, we happened to talk about what we were doing about our lives at work and at home.  One argument was that it is not the destination or even the result, but the journey that matters.  However, it was also pointed out that the objective of any journey is to travel from point A to point B.  Therefore we need to be clear about the result we are aiming for, in order to get there.  Destination, or result, is therefore essential.

Those who know me well know that I am not the most avid conversationalist.  If possible, I like to keep my own thoughts and let them stir in my mind for a while, before deciding what I really think about a particular issue.  So here, after a couple of days, are my thoughts (finally) on the matter.

Everyone of us is on a journey.  And it's true that the objective of any journey is to go someplace where we're not.  That's important.  Having said that, it doesn't mean that how we get there doesn't matter.

So, by way of analogy, if we drive up to Malaysia, it is of course important to know the destination - say, KL.  But the journey's equally important - we need to know what car we're driving, which route we're taking, which travel companions are accompanying us, and even what rest stops we're going to use. 

But there's another essential question isn't there?  Not merely the destination and the journey, but the purpose.  I believe it is "purpose" which is the most important question.  Why are we travelling in the first place?

We cannot always control the journey or the destination/result, even though it's nice to believe that we do.  You may choose to travel by the North-South highway.  But if it's flooded out, then you have to use a different route.  And if the flooding is serious enough, then you may even have to change the destination.

We can plan our careers, work hard.  But a lot of the time, the journey we want to take is out of our hands.  You can't plan for a career opportunity to turn up at the right time and place.  And even if the journey or route does become available, you can't control the result, in succeeding at the interview, or at the job once you've actually got it.  So, as I've said before on this blog (click here), whatever the self-help books say, there's no way to chart a sure path to career success.

The same goes for family concerns.  We can feed our kids vitamins, send them to the best classes and schools, spend "quality time" with them.  But you can't control the journey - maybe your son just likes music instead of math.  Maybe your daughter wants to be a housewife and not a doctor.  And when it comes to kids, we certainly can't control the result.  We can certainly set the example and create the best environment, but, whatever the tuition centres and parenting books say, there's just no way to guarantee academic excellence or even good character.

So - we know that we can't control how we travel, or whether we'll even get there.  But there is one thing we can absolutely control - and that is our decision on the purpose of our travel.  But, the difficult thing is this - there are actually very very few worthy purposes in life.

Is money your purpose?  If you think it is, think again.  Money's merely a means to an end.  What do you really want to spend it on?  For most of us in Singapore, we're blessed that money is not merely required to feed our families.  So is it houses?  Cars?  Are you really prepared to say that your purpose in life is a house or car?

OK, so maybe you're not in it for the money - you just want career satisfaction.  Is career success itself your purpose?  Why?  Is it your purpose in life to impress your family and friends?  No?  Is it then to impress yourself?

I think it's important to ask ourselves these questions, because they help us realize how wasteful our life purposes often are.

Maybe you say you're in it to help people.  Now we're getting somewhere.  Is family your purpose?  Is helping your friends, family and community your purpose?

Great!  But help them do what exactly?  Help our colleagues succeed at work?  Help our children succeed at school?  So that when they grow up they will make money and have career satisfaction?  Wait a minute.  I think we're back at square one.  Surely our life purpose can't be to help other people achieve their own wasteful purposes.

Is there then no point to life at all?  No, thankfully, there is.  There is a God who has a specific purpose for our lives, and a specific destination for us to travel towards.

Ephesians 2:10 says "For we are God's handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which He prepared in advance for us to do." In other words, we have a God-appointed purpose.

Romans 8:28 says "All things work for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose."  In other words, if we live according to that purpose, God promises that the destination will work out for our good.

Isaiah 30:21 says "Whether you turn to the right or the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying, "This is the way, walk in it."  In other words, God not only determines our purpose for our good, but even shows us how to journey there, each step of the way.

Each one of us is on a journey.  That's why this blog is called pilgrimonearth.  It is, for me, a reference to Psalm 84:5-7 which describes how a pilgrim travels to meet God, and how the pilgrim is strengthened with each step of his journey, even when he passes through a desert:

"Blessed are those whose strength is in You,
Whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.
As they pass through the Valley of Baka,
They make it a place of springs;
The autumn rains also cover it with pools.
They go from strength to strength,
Till each appears before God in Zion."

I love my family and my friends, so my purpose is, in the small ways that I can, and flawed as I am, to live my life in such as way as to tell everyone that the purpose, the journey and destination that God has designed for you, is the best you could ever have. 

So, dear, dear friends, come to God and tell him, "Help me to find it!"