Are we there yet?

The other day, in an exchange of Myspace messages with a friend, Teresa ("His Joy"), I received the following message that included the following paragraph:

"I have figured out in my own life that just seems to be how it goes...waiting for what is next. I used to have some fairytale idea that life would reach a point where you just become settled and "arrive" to the place you are supposed to be...but at least for me, its just been a constant journey of wondering what is next. It is a challenge for me to "enjoy the now" but I am trying to do that more and more."

I asked Teresa if I could share this, because I think many people can probably relate. As I've come to find out as well, there is no "arrival" point in life. Whenever there have been times that I've thought "I'm there," I've quickly discovered that "there" is simply one part of a bigger picture, one part of a bigger journey.

For example, I'll just be honest and say that when the Lord whispered 'graceroots dot org' in my ear four years and four months ago (I'll never forget it), and I went ahead and registered the domain in obedience to what I had heard from Him, I thought at the time that perhaps "this is IT." I thought that maybe "this is what I've been waiting for." Only a few years earlier God had planted a desire in me to write a book, and I began thinking that this was what it was all about. Don't get me wrong, I had no delusions of grandeur, as if some huge "ministry" would suddenly pop up. Turns out that my lack of delusion was well founded. :) And that is A-OK with me.

My point here is that I did have some sort of a sense that I had "arrived" at some sort of definition of what the Lord wanted to do with my life, and He would build this "vision" in due time, even if the "vision" wasn't perfectly clear at the time. But over the months and years, I discovered that my life in Christ isn't about some ministry "brand." Even if/when I write a book, my life in Him is still not defined by it. I am in Him and He is in me, and I usually don't have a clue where I'm going! The wind blows where it wishes, and so it is with those who ride the wind of the Spirit. Sometimes the wind is calm, but you can be guaranteed that it doesn't stay that way for long!

That's not to say that He doesn't give us visions and dreams and desires and that He doesn't fulfill them! And that's not to say that we're never "planted" in a place for an extended period of time. But I think what I'm seeing these days is that even in the fulfillment of dreams, we've still not "arrived." And quite often, the fulfillment of a dream or desire is merely a "step" to something else. Or obedience to something He says isn't the be-all-end-all, but is simply part of a much larger picture.

I suppose I have a few more thoughts on this, but I'm eager to find out from you what you have discovered in all of this in your own journey. Does any of this relate to your job, family, ministry, pastimes, place of residence, understanding of God, way of looking at things, etc, etc?