Impatient with the Journey

"But with their patience worn out by the journey, the people complained against God and Moses, "Why have you brought us up from Egypt to die in this desert, where there is no food or water? We are disgusted with this wretched food!"--Numbers 21:4-5

A meditation I was reading this day about the above passage asked how often we had heard the query from young travelers, "Are we there yet?" Most often, the query is repeated ad nauseum until parents are complaining about the length of the journey and the children's behavior and no one is enjoying the journey.

Sometimes we become too focused on the destination and forget to enjoy the journey. I am so thankful for the journey you have given me this Lent my Lord and King. My saviour, you are journeying with me along the route chosen for me to reach the destination of your Easter Resurrection.

I know that like children who have grown impatient with the journey, I often complain about the length of the journey and my own loss of comforts, forgetting the purpose of the Lenten sacrifice is to help me prepare to receive you in all your Glory and fullness of life.

Help me, my Lord and King, to journey with faith and trust in you, my guide. Help me to always know that while I may not like the food provided by you, that you do indeed give me food and water--that you know my needs and will provide them. I need have no fear of lacking anything to the point of death. But if I do, then it is because it is your will for me to undergo privation, learning lessons from the fast I can learn no other way.

My God, you are beautiful and wonderful to me. I love you and grow daily more in love with you. I long for the day when my heart will again sing for sheer joy at the thought of you.

These are the moments I love and cherish with you, my dear one. Moments when you are fully awake and choose to spend this time with me because of love, not duty. I do appreciate it when you obey out of a sense of duty, but I love and cherish the moments when you come to me fully awake and desirous of spending the time fully in communion with me. I cherish you and love you. You are my beloved and I give you your heart's desire. Do not fear. All is well. I love you. Go in peace. You are mine and I will provide for all your needs, whether in the desert or at the oasis. I fill your needs. Bless you, my beloved child.