My mom gave me a mug for my birthday that says, “Enjoy the Journey.” This saying is a textbook cliché phrase, so I treated this mug like any other mug. I grab it out of the cabinet, not giving the saying printed on it much thought. I pour my morning tea in it, as if the saying is not even there. Then, I go about my day as usual.
However, that all changed on one particular morning. That day, my oldest child was spending her last day of summer break with us, packing and preparing to go back to college. The next morning, she would leave bright and early. Because of this, my mama heart was breaking. When I opened the cabinet that morning to grab a mug for my morning tea, the last thing I expected was for a mug to speak to me.
Right there, front and center, was that mug, the gift from my mom. My eyes fixed immediately on the words, and it was as if the Holy Spirit whispered, “Here’s a friendly reminder: don’t forget to enjoy the journey.”
Oh, how I needed that reminder. Life truly is a journey, and it is meant to be enjoyed. Not just part of it should be enjoyed, but all of it: the highs and the lows, the pretty and the messy, the good and the bad, and everything in between. Every part of the journey is important and has value. If nothing else, the bad makes us appreciate the good even more.
We waste far too much time and miss so much of the journey when we worry about tomorrow. Today will have enough worries. There is no need to add tomorrow’s problems to today. The Bible says in Matthew 6:34, Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.
I realized that, if I focused on the “tomorrow,” I would miss so much of the “today.” I stood there holding that mug and decided, “For today, I will enjoy today’s part of the journey. I will enjoy her smile, the sound of her voice, her footsteps through the house, and the fact that she is here.”
Today must be enjoyed because tomorrow is not guaranteed.
I had prayed earlier that morning to ask the Lord to help me make it through this day and to give peace to my hurting heart, and I am so thankful that He not only heard me but also answered me. He used a mug with a cheesy saying to nudge me with the gentle voice of the Holy Spirit.
In that quiet moment, He taught me a valuable lesson: enjoy the journey.
by Crystal Collingsworth
