THE JOY IS IN THE JOURNEY

“I have come that they may have life…to the full.” Jn 10:10 NIV

Sometimes when we achieve the things we strive for, we find they’re not very fulfilling. As we look back we realize that our greatest joy was not in the goal we reached, but in the growth we experienced on the way to it. Scientist Koichi Tanaka describes this phenomenon and how it can come about during the enjoyable pursuit of a dream. As he worked on trying to create an ion with lasers, he says: “I failed for weeks and months before I succeeded in making an ion. Why did I continue the experiment? Because I enjoyed it. It was fun for me to come to know something that I had never known before, and that fun enabled me to persist.” That persistence helped him to win a Nobel Prize in chemistry. You have the potential to make many wonderful discoveries in life, and none greater than what you discover about God, and yourself.

One leadership expert writes: “The pursuit of my dream has taken me out of my comfort zone, elevated my thinking, given me confidence, and confirmed my sense of purpose. My pursuit of the dream and my personal growth have become so intertwined that I now ask myself, ‘Did I make the dream, or did the dream make me?’ When your mind accepts a new idea or learns a new truth, it’s forever changed. And once stretched, it takes on a new shape and never goes back to its original form. When that happens, you experience true fulfillment. No wonder children’s book author Elizabeth Coatsworth said, ‘When I dream, I am ageless.’”

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