I’ve had a couple things happen to me recently…

First, I had to take a longer drive one day for work. As I was mapping out what route to take, I had two choices: the more “normal” route that ran through freeways with more pit stops and traffic, OR, a route that went straight through the mountains on a single road that went for at least 30-40 minutes straight without all the pit stops and traffic. Being used to taking routes like the first one, I was hesitant to drive straight through the mountains for an extended period of time, but alas, God ended up having me take that second route. And you know what, it was so scenic and beautiful and peaceful and free of the normal traffic I had been used to. It was just so simple. I found myself enjoying what was around me instead of just staring at endless concrete and cars. And much to my surprise, the time flew by, and it was actually faster than that first route. When I had to head back home, I couldn’t help but get excited about going back through the mountains.

Second, I just recently watched the 1947 film, “The Bishop’s Wife”, for the first time. It’s a classic film starring Cary Grant, in which he plays an Angel that visits a bishop who’s having trouble with a cathedral and his marriage. Cary Grant, as the Angel, spends the film tending to the Bishop, helping him to rebuild his family and life. There’s one scene in particular where the Angel and the Bishop’s Wife are out for a day of fun and have been riding around in a taxi cab with the same driver. As they get back in the cab, the Wife asks the Driver if he’d drive them through the park, and while the Driver points out that it’s out of the way for them, they still insist on going and begin talking about how much fun they’ve been having. Then the Driver asks the two of them if they know what’s wrong with the country, referring to the U.S.. The Angel and Wife respond, asking the Driver what he thinks. The Driver then says:

“Well, I think I do. The main trouble is there are too many people who don’t know where they’re going, and they want to get there too fast. Now, take you two. I’d call you unusual…..First place, you know your destination, but you’re in no hurry to get there. You want to enjoy some scenery en route.”

While the first event gave me the experience described, the words of the second event hit me like a ton of bricks. Even being a film from 1947, I believe those words still ring true for us today.

There’s a lot that can be unpacked here, but the main focus I’ve pulled from this is how much we try and rush through our lives. I can think of times in my life where I didn’t know what my destination was, even recently, and it caused me to just want to get somewhere and get there FAST. That ultimately comes from the unhappiness of missing true purpose. It can be easy to let this mindset stay around, and it can cause us to simply live in a “destination” mindset, unhappy with our lives today and wanting to get somewhere else as fast as we can. The lie that this mindset makes us believe is that once we arrive at the destination, no matter what the destination really is, we’ll finally be happy.

I got some tough news for you there as someone who’s believed that: It won’t. At least, not permanently.

That path is full of fleeting gratification that will never be satisfied. So then, you may be asking, what does the scenic route look like? And that involves a destination too, doesn’t it? Yes, it does involve a destination, but the difference being that this destination comes from a place of true purpose for our lives, something that comes from God, not our broken confusion of unhappiness. And with this, not only do we know that the destination is, but we hold confidence that it is truly the place to go. So just like my experience with the drive, knowing my destination, I had two choices as to what route to take:

The path that just gets me there, or, the path that allows me to actually enjoy the journey .

The scenic route does not always seem to be the most appealing at first. It can appear very much stranger than the quick path and often appear to take longer than the quick path. It can also appear as though it isn’t even helping us get to where we know we’re supposed to go. To that I can say, “yeah, those concerns are valid”. This is the place that I’m in right now; taking the scenic route with God. Truth is, it’s scary at first because it forces you to lay down all your previous expectations as to how your journey was supposed to go. It makes you let go of just trying to get anywhere “fast”. It also makes you put the trust of having your dreams fulfilled in His hands.

But as soon as you take the step of faith to go on this path, what He begins to show you is that your dreams are actually the destination. And while this scenic path is not the one you would have predicted or expected, not only will it allow you to actually get to the destination of your dreams, it will actually allow you to enjoy the drive; enjoy all the views and sights it has to offer. Essentially, it will allow you to actually enjoy living life.

And who knows, maybe as you take your time and just enjoy the scenic route with Him, maybe you’ll actually stumble into some of your dreams along the way.