Find Joy In The Journey

Today while at a restaurant for lunch I spotted this picture hanging up on the wall. I stopped and gazed at it long enough to read what it said, then I quickly made a note of it in my phone for later...for right now.

"Find joy in the journey...Relish each day as you live it."

In the busyness of each day (or even life in general) it can become so easy to move through life without stopping to actually enjoy it. We see all these goals and dreams and day to day tasks laid out before us and without thinking twice fix our eyes on reaching the finish line. But, how often do we really stop to 'smell the roses' & appreciate how far we've come? Today, a picture hanging on a wall in a restaurant that I had never been in before quietly reminded me to do just that. 

So, I want to encourage whoever may be reading this to find joy in your journey. No matter what it looks like. No matter what obstacles you face. No matter how hard it gets. No matter how long it takes you to get "there". No matter how many setbacks you encounter. No matter what people say. No matter what other people think. No matter how (un)qualified you feel. No matter who gives up on you. No matter who walks away. No matter what someone else's journey may look like. No matter what society tells you. No matter where it takes you. There is still joy to be found in it.

Find it. Embrace it. Keep it. 

Your journey is your story and your story alone that someone somewhere is waiting needing to read. No matter how insignificant you feel it is, it's necessary and it will be so much easier to tell once you begin to find the joy in it. So, my challenge for you (us) today is to be intentional about finding joy in everything you do. To take each day as it comes. To look for moments of happiness even if it's buried under a sea of sorrow. To celebrate even the smallest victories. To really live and not merely exist. And to just embrace the journey. Trust me, once you do it will be so so worth it . . . . you're worth it.