I was just trying to get there. However, due to my relaxed view of time and security being closed for about 15 minutes, I missed my flight. I was no longer able to arrive Friday night, but had to spend the night in Newark before I could fly out to Kansas City and see my girlfriend and her family. I was livid.

I was done with the journey. It hadn’t even begun in earnest, but waiting to fly out to Newark, I only wanted to arrive at my final destination. Getting to Newark was merely bitter as I looked for a place to get “comfy” and deal with a night in the airport. Beside myself, I was asking how I could have allowed that to happen. It took me several hours to realize this was merely a part of the journey. As such, there was grace to be found in the moment. Sleep was terrible, but it no longer mattered. I was there for a journey.

I am dense. God was trying to get my attention from the moment I missed my flight. I made the call to let the young lady know what had happened and she admitted she was disappointed, but said nothing more. She was for the most part fine with it. I was expecting…well, a much less favorable reaction. Once I got my new itinerary, I had tried to see if I could arrive earlier taking another airline. Her response was the amount of time gained was not worth the expense. Once again, God was whispering. It took me several hours and some new acquaintances before I was going to let go of this one.

The destination is but a point. If I am so intent on the destination and that is but a point on the timeline of life, there’s a lot of line in between that I’m choosing to wish away. There’s a lot of life I’m wasting. In wasting that, I’m telling God that I don’t believe His grace is worthwhile in the journey. I should be expectantly awaiting the destination, but balancing that with the understanding that the journey is what makes the destination worthwhile. Why was I in such a rush?

We wish away current grace. There’s this stigma that has us eking out a life on earth half alive believing we are holding out for the grace of heaven. Somehow, God’s grace in death is infinitely more valuable there than on earth. God’s future grace is greater than that of the current. There is nothing of God less valuable than anything else. We can’t create this false dichotomy, especially since it leads to a suffering through the present. Sure, there are trials along the road, but as I learned this weekend, there is abundant grace here as well.

It’s easy to wish away the current. However, it’s the growth we experience along the way that makes the destination worth anything. It is the experience of grace that grows us and shapes us along the way, but we have to be receptive to it. Called to make the most of the time, it doesn’t make sense trying to wish away a majority of it. We have to buck the habit of always being in a hurry and stop to smell the roses of grace. They are sweet, fragrant and reviving of the soul. These roses remind us that God’s grace is just as beautiful now as it has been and will ever be. Grace has no degree, it is either complete or not at all and God’s is always complete. Each day we have a choice whether we bask in God’s grace or just gripe about the immediate circumstances. Don’t choose what I stewed in most of the trip as I was just trying to get there.