Life is a journey, not a destination... a process, a learning experience. We don’t discover all of life’s answers at once, but over time, through many and varied – and necessary – experiences. We will have hundreds of arrivals. And still we will not have reached life’s destination. As long as we are alive, we are in the process of becoming.
-- Susan Taylor

Everyday we are becoming. Through every experience, we are becoming. Wading through the mess, we are becoming. But becoming what, though?

Becoming more cynical because the experiences you had left you unconvinced that the world and its inhabitants are kind and mean well despite their shortcomings? Because of what’s taken place in your life, have you become more pessimistic and skeptical, believing the worst about people and situations until proven wrong, and even then doubting what you see is real? Certainly life’s multitude of journeys can make you cynical; it’s really no wonder so many of us are glum and doubtful about the future. But then, if that’s all you become, what else does that mean you are?

Living your life with distrust, skepticism, or even caution means you’re missing out on some other stuff. Perhaps you’re missing opportunities that help widen your outlook and accept each day with the potential it comes with. If you’ve become a doubting Thomas with a sharp tongue and sarcastic disposition, you’ve probably robbed yourself of opportunities to have real friends and close relationships because nobody wants to share space with a sourpuss or stick in the mud. And, chances are, if you’re a strict cynic, your body aches, your frown lines are deep, and the only light you get is that of the 60-watt bulb in the table lamp by the couch you are wedged to. What you’ve essentially become is a person whose doubt has built a cage or shell over them; one who can’t even feel the next step of the journey; and one who’s become so hard that nothing, not even air, can penetrate that shield. You’ve become stuck with no elbow room to receive anything fresh or gratifying, and everything that does come your way is more of the same and you’re being suffocated to death by your bitterness.

But that’s just one leg of your journey, just one place on your path, and not a place you have to stay attached to. If you choose, you can change and then begin to move toward a place that makes you more receptive, less tense, more inspired, and much gentler with yourself and the others around you. Of course this change from cynical to hopeful is a process that does not and cannot happen overnight. It’ll take staying attuned to who you’ve become and taking every chance to make dents in the shell that covers you. It’ll take patience, determination, and reliably conscious scraping of the tough calluses that have situated themselves subterraneously below the shell that fight tooth and nail to be smoothed. Changing your viewpoint from dark to light will take faith that wherever you arrive next will be a place of liberation and acceptance and that who you become in this process will get you even closer to who God said you were – a new and righteous creature who is heir to the throne and “marked with the seal of the promised Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:13). What greater place can you think of arriving? Who better to become?

If we choose, we’re becoming better than we were before no matter what the steps look like or how we’re feeling while we’re taking them. And if we think of our journey as a process of arrivals at becoming better, then none of it is actually that bad nor will it hurt you any longer.

Sadiqqa © 2008