I am a Train in Motion

Written for Six Word Saturday Challenge.

I find trains fascinating, for they are nearly always in motion, on the way to a destination, leaving a destination, or arriving at a destination. That’s how I  like to think about our lives. We should be in motion, never standing still, immobile, or aimless. There should be some sense of where we are in our lives, and where it is we want to go, although I have found that getting lost can sometimes help us find our real destination.

For example, I have arrived at retirement, and it was a train ride filled with twists and turns, and sometimes I had no idea where I was headed, so I just went along for the ride, trusting that God would take me where He wanted me to be and where He would use me. When I felt the desire to move to California, I thought of it as making a connection to where I really was supposed to go. But, as much as I feared that I was lost, I arrived at the exact place that God had preordained for me, for there I taught at a prestigious university, touched many young lives, survived cancer, and learned how to love my husband.

These days, I am headed to new adventures, as retirement opens up vistas that I could never have traveled when I worked. I am at an age where the journey is as rewarding as getting to the destination. As we travel the world and see places I never thought I would ever experience, I am thankful that this journey is still moving on down the tracks, seeking for the next out-of-the-way places to marvel over and spend time in living life to the fullest. I wonder who I will meet, both on the journey and at the destination, and what tales we will share.

On trains to places near and far, if we are open to talking, chatting, and maybe even crying with our fellow travelers, we make life-long friends who may reach their destinations before us, but who stay in touch until this life journey ends. Some of us will travel further miles than others, but we are all looking for a place that we can finally call home on this side of the Jordan River.

And, yes, there will be a last journey for us all, the train ride home to our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. The words of the Negro hymn by Etta James speak to my soul more these days:

I looked over Jordan, and what did I see
Coming for to carry me home?
A band of angels coming after me,
Coming for to carry me home.

Let your life be like that of a train, always in motion. And whether you are just arriving at a destination, or just leaving a destination, or still on your way there, remember that the journey is as important as the destination. If you get lost, don’t worry. Like the eagle blown off course, you may end up exactly where you were always meant to be.

Written for the Three things Challenge from Haunted Wordsmith.