In life we make frequent journeys to various places and for various reasons. In the olden times people journeyed on foot from place to place for their survival needs. Later on, as they advanced in their knowledge of the surroundings, people used animals, and animal pulled carriages for their journey. This was followed later by vehicles pulled or pedalled by humans themselves. And finally journey became easier and faster with the arrival of automobile engines. Today people can travel by air, by rail, by road and by sea to reach their destination in the fastest imaginable speed.
Every journey has a purpose, a beginning and an end. We journey for business, for vacation, for pilgrimage, for entertainment, and for hundreds of other reasons. Sometimes we stop our journey for the purpose of refuelling, for food, rest, entertainment, business, etc., but move on again when the purpose has been achieved. Sometimes we make detours because of roadblocks on our normal route. Sometimes we get stuck in one place due to unfavourable conditions. On some occasions we unknowingly deviate from our right path and take wrong routes, but when the mistake has been realised, we get back to the right route.
In our journey we meet various kinds of people – some familiar, others strangers; some pleasant, some sore; some helpful, others indifferent; some friendly, others rude; some we befriend, others we pass by without paying much attention. Some of those whom we befriend become part of our lives, but others gradually fade away from our memory.
Just as we make big and small journeys in life frequently, our life itself is a long journey, a movement, a pilgrimage. We begin our life’s journey at the moment of our conception in the womb of our mother. Our final destination is the heavenly kingdom where the entire human race is invited to by God himself. The purpose of our life’s journey is to attain our final destiny. In this journey there can be roadblocks, wrong turns, sticky situations, stopovers, frustrating experiences, etc. We meet people who enrich us as well as people who create hurdles on our journey. Just as other people influence our onward move, we too, through our actions and words influence others, make a difference to the path we travel and the people we meet. We learn from every experience, be they big or small. Every event on this journey is a teacher for our onward move. Every place we visit and every situation we encounter have something to make our journey better. The only things that we can take along with us to our final destiny is the goodwill we have created among people, the love we have shared and the smile we have brought on to the faces of the less privileged through our own self-sacrifice. All the other baggage we have collected along the way will have to be dropped in this world in order to enter our final destiny.
“I believe that life is a journey, often difficult and sometimes incredibly cruel, but we are well equipped for it if only we tap into our talents and gifts and allow them to blossom”. (Les Brown)
