Do you long to hear those words, you have arrived? I know I do. Sometimes I wish God would hit me over the head with an enlightenment wand and be done.
But I came across this quote from Aldous Huxley:
“The spiritual journey does not consist in arriving at a new destination where a person gains what he did not have or becomes what he is not. It consists in the dissipation of one’s own ignorance concerning one’s self and life, and the gradual growth of that understanding which begins the spiritual awakening. The finding of God is a coming to one’s self.”
In a world where we are bombarded with never doing, having, or worse, being enough, this is a reminder that we are created in God’s image. In the beginning it not only good, it was very good. We were created in love and wholeness but got lost along the way in how we see ourselves and forget who and Whose we are.
Arriving at an Intended Destination
This “arriving” made me think about the Maps App on my iPhone. The first time I used it, I had no idea where I was going. It was to check out the Pollotine Renewal Center located 25 miles north of where I live.
The app told me to turn here and there. I began to not trust it (shocker – NOT – trust is still a work in process). That’s because I imagined where Pollotine was. It was no where near where I was going.
Then the app directed me onto a street called North Lindbergh Blvd. I knew that I was going in the right direction. There was the center in a neighborhood setting, surrounded by huge homes. It still amazes me that St. Louis has been my home all my life, yet there are so many areas I have never seen.
Arriving as Confirmation
Something else I discovered with using the app that day, and I was frankly giddy over this, is when I made it to the center the voice said, “Arrived.”
I finally arrived!
Arrive according to the dictionary means to reach one’s destination, to come to be present (love that), to attain a position of success, to reach a course of process (love that too).
It’s hearing that affirmation and confirmation that we’ve gotten somewhere. We can raise a fist in the air and shout, “Yes!”
You Have Your Own Guidance System to Arrive
Not knowing where we are going and feeling lost are terrible feelings. But we’ve got our own inner guidance system – it’s our own still, small voice, our spirit that merges with God’s Holy Spirit within us.
It’s the voice of Truth. John 16:13 says:
“When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own, but will speak whatever he hears and declares it to you the things that are to come.”
I still use the Maps app and relish hearing I’ve arrived. But I also know that for all of us, our arriving is ongoing. That’s because in our heart of hearts, we want to always be growing, even when growing is painful.
It’s hard to listen to our still, small voice when it’s drowned out by the noises of the outside world clamoring for your attention.
That’s why I created these meditations to tune into that still, small voice, the voice of Truth and the voice of God so that you can keep arriving at your next destination. They are called: Be Still (and Know that I Am God), Let it Go, and Trust. Purchase MP3 downloads or CD. Save when you buy all three. With the CD you also received the MP3 downloads free.
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