Results-focused thinking is dangerous.
Five years ago we were riding along the Mississippi River near Cape Girardeau, Missouri. A post called Traveling Well contrasted two rides and prompted some thoughts about current events.
“It’s about the journey, not the result.”
Thursday’s ride was about as routine as it gets. Straight roads, wide shoulders, a fair amount of traffic, hills were long and gradual—I hardly shifted gears during much of the ride.
Friday brought country roads, absolutely no shoulders or traffic, and steep hills. I either crawled up difficult inclines or flew downhill.
Funny piece of data—on both rides my average speed was exactly the same and both ended at the same destination. Same result, but vastly different rides.
Thursday was all about rhythm and consistent cranking. Friday alternated uphill struggles with downhill thrills, with no sense of rhythm at all.
This project reinforces my conviction that traveling well matters. The destination, the result, the finish line—those are markers. But life happens on the road.
Getting there is great, but getting there the right way, enjoying and learning from the journey, are the things that make getting there worth the effort.
This dream isn’t about getting somewhere.
It’s about what happens while we’re going.
# # #
Imagine a day of cycling filled with complaining and grumbling about terrain, food, weather–imagine entire long, miserable days of nothing but that kind of horrible interaction.
Traveling well matters
Tempting to make it all about reaching the finish line, that results are what really matter. Tempting to take shortcuts, mess with the process, compromise your values if it gets you to the goal.
The FREEDOM TOUR has a guiding principle:
There’s no limit to what can be accomplished by a group of committed, people when they work together and trust God for the outcome.
“Work together” is the process. It’s traveling well. When we do that, when we travel by following Jesus, we believe God takes care of the destination.
I wonder if this notion of traveling well, following Jesus along the journey and trusting God for the outcome, might relieve some of the current angst you and I might be experiencing.
Worth a try?He wants us, I believe, to travel well.