Baxter is not a traveler. While his excursions have been quite limited-none more than twenty-five miles—every trip has been torturous for him. He starts crying from the moment I get him into his carrier, and the laments don’t stop until he reaches his destination and is free of his confinement within a moving vehicle. Actually, I don’t know if it is the traveling as such that upsets him so much, or the fact that he is restricted to a small box with a caged front for the duration of the trip. Baxter is accustomed to having the rule of the roost where he lives. He comes and goes wherever he likes for as long as he likes, and although he has been taught that certain areas and objects are off limits to him, who knows what he does when I am not at home. But confined to the carrier, Baxter is stuck. He can’t move much, see much, smell much. He’s a prisoner on the move, and he doesn’t like it.
Sometimes we feel the same way. Our lives are moving on, carrying us along for the ride, and we are prisoners of the journey. We are boxed in by obligations and responsibilities, and we seem to have no say over what we do or where we are going in the time that we have. We run from one thing to another-work, children’s activities, home, friends, volunteer service, parents-and we get upset along the way from all the pressure and energy it takes. We are trapped by our own lifestyle into having and doing it all. We don’t like it, but we don’t know how to change it. After all, we want to keep up with other families. We want to show that we can do it and succeed. We want our children to compete and be successful. We love our families and friends, and want the best for them. This crazy, hectic life is what it takes today, so we have to hunker down and take the ride-or so we think.
We can travel in a different fashion. The journey of our lifetime in faith doesn’t have to be taken in a carrier built from expectations we have imposed upon ourselves. We need to upgrade our traveling class. Christ moves with us through our lives to guide and direct the journey, but we have to listen for His voice. This isn’t easy with all of the other voices around telling us what we have to do. So we need to pause and listen. We need to pray and decide which stops we include in the journey and which we skip. We need to come out of the cages we have built for ourselves, and include the things in our lives that we value and cherish, and discard those that take time and energy but mean little to us. As disciples, we need to ask ourselves, “Where do we find the Lord in our journey through life, and what is just busy work done to please ourselves or others without a lasting purpose?”
I usually trick Baxter into his carrier, because he will run and hide from it otherwise. Perhaps we have tricked ourselves into the traps that carry us from one thing to another in our frazzled life style. Step back; look at what is going on; pray for insight to discern what truly matters; then make some adjustments. Now we can enjoy the journey and learn from it. Now we can discover the Lord’s companionship with us like the disciples on the road to Emmaus. The journey of our lifetime doesn’t have to be torturous, if we learn to walk with others freely in the direction set towards life eternal.
