Song: “I’m Leaving It In Your Hands” by Faith in the Blues 

Have you ever noticed how much of life we spend thinking about where we’re trying to get to?

We’re working toward the promotion.

We’re saving for retirement.

We’re trying to finish the degree.

We’re building the business.

We’re raising the children.

We’re working toward a better relationship, a better financial position, a better career, or simply a better season of life.

And there’s nothing wrong with having goals.

There’s nothing wrong with looking forward to the destination.

But here’s the question I want us to think about this morning:

Are we so focused on where we’re going that we’re missing where we are?

Sometimes we become so consumed with reaching the destination that we forget to enjoy the ride.

We Live a Lot of Life Between Here and There

Think about taking a long road trip.

You put the destination into the GPS.

It tells you that you’ve got six or seven hours ahead of you.

And from that moment, your mind can become focused on one thing:

Getting there.

How many miles do we have left?

What time are we going to arrive?

Are we making good time?

But along the way, there may be mountains you’ve never seen before.

A beautiful sunrise.

An old country road.

A little restaurant you would never have discovered otherwise.

A conversation with the person sitting beside you that you might remember for the rest of your life.

Those things weren’t the destination.

But they were part of the trip.

And life is much the same way.

We tend to measure life by the big moments—the graduation, the wedding, the promotion, the retirement, the accomplishment, the breakthrough.

But when you think about it, most of life happens between the big moments.

Life happens on ordinary Tuesday mornings.

Life happens around the dinner table.

Life happens during conversations in the car.

Life happens while you’re waiting.

Life happens while you’re working toward something that hasn’t happened yet.

And if we’re not careful, we’ll spend our entire lives saying:

“I’ll be happy when…”

I’ll be happy when I get the job.

I’ll relax when I retire.

I’ll enjoy myself when I have more money.

I’ll have peace when this problem is finally resolved.

I’ll celebrate when I reach my goal.

But every time we reach one destination, another one appears on the horizon.

So at some point, we have to learn that life cannot only be enjoyed at the destination.

We have to learn to enjoy the ride.

The Journey Is Doing Something to You

Here’s something else I’ve learned:

Sometimes the journey is more important than the destination because the journey is preparing you for what you’ll need when you arrive.

The delays teach patience.

The disappointments teach perseverance.

The mistakes teach wisdom.

The difficult people teach us something about grace—and sometimes something about boundaries.

The unexpected turns teach flexibility.

And the seasons when we don’t know what comes next teach us to trust God.

We often ask God to change our circumstances, while God may be using those very circumstances to change us.

Romans 5:3–4 tells us: “…suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope.”

Notice the progression.

There is a process.

We want the hope, but sometimes we don’t want the endurance that develops it.

We want the character, but we’d rather skip the experiences that build it.

We want to arrive, but God is interested in who we’re becoming along the way.

Don’t Despise the Detours

And then there are the detours.

Nobody likes detours.

You had a plan for your life.

You knew where you thought you were going.

You knew how long you thought it should take.

And then something happened.

A door closed.

A relationship changed.

An opportunity disappeared.

The plan didn’t work.

And suddenly, you’re traveling a road you never intended to take.

But here’s what I’ve discovered:

A detour is only wasted if we refuse to learn anything while we’re on it.

Some of the greatest lessons of our lives come from places we never planned to visit.

Joseph probably didn’t plan on the pit.

He certainly didn’t plan on slavery.

He didn’t plan on prison.

His destination eventually included Pharaoh’s palace, but there were some painful stops along the way.

And yet, when Joseph looked back over his journey, he could see that God had been working through circumstances that made absolutely no sense while he was experiencing them.

That’s why Genesis 50:20 is so powerful: “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good…”

Joseph could see something looking backward that he couldn’t always see while moving forward.

And maybe that’s true for us as well.

There are things happening in your life right now that may not make sense today.

But one day you may look back and say: “Now I understand why God allowed me to travel that road.”

Pay Attention to the Scenery

So maybe this morning the message is simply this: Slow down enough to notice your life.

Notice the people God has placed around you.

Enjoy the conversation.

Laugh at the silly things.

Call somebody you love.

Sit on the porch a little longer.

Watch the sunrise.

Enjoy your children while they’re still children.

Enjoy your spouse.

Enjoy your friends.

Enjoy the strength you have today.

Enjoy the ordinary moments that don’t seem important enough to photograph or post on social media.

Because one day, some of the things we consider ordinary today will become the memories we treasure most.

Psalm 118:24 says: “This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it.”

Notice that it doesn’t say: “This is the day the Lord has made once everything goes according to plan.”

It says this day.

This day—with its problems.

This day—with its unanswered questions.

This day—with its unfinished business.

This day—with goals you haven’t reached yet.

This day is still a gift from God.

Enjoy the Ride

So yes, keep your goals.

Keep dreaming.

Keep planning.

Keep working.

Keep moving toward the destination God has placed before you.

But don’t become so obsessed with where you’re going that you fail to appreciate where God has you today.

Because the people you meet along the way matter.

The lessons you learn along the way matter.

The laughter matters.

The struggles matter.

The unexpected stops matter.

Even some of the detours matter.

And perhaps years from now, when you finally reach some destination you’ve been working toward, you’ll look back and realize something:

The destination wasn’t the whole story.

The journey was part of the blessing.

So wherever you’re headed today, keep moving forward.

Trust God with the road ahead.

Learn something from the road behind you.

But most importantly, pay attention to the road you’re traveling right now.

Because life isn’t just about getting somewhere.

Life is happening along the way.

So…

Enjoy the ride.