Week Forty-Four - Enjoy the Ride!

I find it hard to enjoy the ride when I don't know where I'm going. Consequently, when my husband makes a few wrong turns or takes a different path to a known route without warning me, I become unsettled and start to question. One day, he instructed me, "Just enjoy the ride," and it has since become a byword for us.

A few years ago, I took a trip to China with a dear friend, and several times, my husband, knowing I'd be challenged by the uncertainty of the experience, texted, reminding me — once again — to enjoy the ride. And I did!

As I thought about that advice, I saw parallels in the Bible: Bible characters whose journeys required this attitude.

Abraham, out looking for that city whose builder and maker was God, needed it. David, hiding in caves and running for his life, needed it. Peter, as he queried John's path in life, needed it.

The attitude of enjoying the ride doesn't mean always seeing life as rosy. It is not absenting ourselves from involvement or protecting ourselves from harm. It is a walk of faith that says, "My heavenly Father is right here beside me. I can rest in Him and not worry about the events of the path because I know and believe He is in control."

Enjoying the ride means that even when unexpected turns come or a detour takes longer than planned, there is no need to panic; continue living and reacting in faith.

Enjoying the ride means letting go of being the planner or navigator and embracing the role of a passenger. You aren't driving. God is. Giving Him the wheel relieves the pressure and stress of trying to be in control.

Enjoying the ride means taking time to see the beauty of life; to enjoy and appreciate all the tangible and intangible things as gifts from God. This increases your thankfulness and makes life much more beautiful.

The interesting thing is that everyone's path is tailor-made. No two paths are exactly the same, yet our paths crisscross and intersect throughout our journeys.

Even the paths of husband and wife, though running parallel, are not exactly the same. God so designs each path to meet the desires and needs of the individual, bringing glory to Himself and fulfillment to the individual.

The journey of life has similarities, too — birth, youth, adulthood, etc. —but these are only skeletons on which the journey is built. We don't need to get hung up on these. There is so much more to life than age.

As I look back, I see more of my journey each day. It falls into categories by decade, and each decade is marked by life's events, but one thing remains the same. My successes and failures in each era are marked by my attitude on the journey. In joys and in sorrows, when my attitude was one of faith, the ride was much more positive, strengthening, and strangely enjoyable. The places where I kept my focus on life as a walk of faith proved to be places of growth, whether the way had been hard or easy.

We read the stories of persecuted Christians and notice their intense joy and peace amid pain and suffering. How can this be? Surely they have learned the secret of enjoying the ride. I'm sure they would tell us of a walk of faith that does not demand to know what is around the next bend or grows uncomfortable and unsettled just because a plan doesn't come together.

I think they, too, would remind us to settle back and enjoy the ride because "It is God that worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure."