Focus: ARRIVE

The Weekly One Word is:
ARRIVE

"... For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways" Psalm 91:11 NIV

God is following our every step through life to make sure that we arrive safely.

Although the One Word to focus on this week is

ARRIVE

and this is the verse given in the devotion

I think from the first paragraph

that the use of "arrive" is more aimed towards

purpose, goals, achievement

because of the parts written about self-evaluation

and (unrealistic) expectations

 

"... we tend to be extremely hard on ourselves."...

Ain't that the truth?
After this the author explains our "idealized self" vs. "actual self" and 
"comparing where we are at to where we wish we were".
As I began to think about this and the One Word,
I kept thinking about when kids are traveling 
in the car on a road trip and continue asking:
"are we there yet? how long 'til we arrive?"
as impatience grows and you often have not 
even gotten that far yet (maybe just down the driveway)
but certainly not even close to your destination.
Cleere Cherry Reaves writes:

"... makes us feel as though we are truly never progressing. We become consumed with the destination, and all we want to do is arrive."

I'm felt this way often throughout my life.
I say that I am a 'work in progress'
but I'll be the first to tell you that my progress 
and the process sometimes has felt like
it's not really true, that I have not really made
sufficient progress in my life at being better, 
at being more Christ-like, at getting rid of that old me,
and truly putting on the new me;
Like I have been stuck in the same rut before in this life.
Will I ever learn? Will I ever be what I say I believe?
Will I ever stop doing what I know is not right?
the same old, same old
You know what they call people like that: crazy
The actual saying is:

"Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results."

So am I doomed to repeat the same mistakes?
After a lifetime, it sure seems like I did (or do) far too often.
I guess I haven't arrived!
as the apostle Paul wrote in Romans 7:15-20.
But I'm guess that God is telling me that
I just have not yet learned that lesson,
that I still need to be pruned & refined even more
surrendered & crucify my fleshly ways.
<>
Let me skip that hamster wheel that I got on
instead of writing about the part that I meant to: 
"becoming consumed"
with my destination, which I believe to be heaven
"and all we want to do is ..."
ARRIVE
oh, when I read those words
with the part boxed below in blue after this
my spirit inside leapt with a hopeful joy
YES! AMEN, amen, amen!
With each passing day, this is truly what I want ...

"...What if we began to take this word arrive and see it in a new light - one that reminds us of how we have already arrived in the exact space Jesus needs us to be."... "Where must we arrive? At His feet. That is the only destination that we should concern our-selves with, knowing and believing ..." Cleere Cherry Reaves

 [the full context is not shared from the devo, but the blue part IS my favorite part]

TO ARRIVE

at that final destination

To sit at Jesus' feet!

I no longer want or feel content or

at home here

anywhere

Times have changed, everything is so cruel.

But am I ready? have I done all I needed to do? is my mission over?

Oh, I haven't even changed and progressed as much as I should have?

Realizing my future home is not at all based on me or what I've done.

Only because of JESUS!

I'll ARRIVE

I thought that perhaps my heart & soul were way off

about this from the devotional

until I read this final statement of this devotional

"Let's release perfection & pursue excellence until we ARRIVE at our permanent home."

and I could have just cried
(in fact, I fought and right now fight back the tears that welled up from inside)
"There is a place that I long for more with every passing minute"
oh Jesus
Come!

I can hardly wait to

ARRIVE

<>

These are the other scripture verses for Cleere Cherry Reave's 
ARRIVE
this week:

Psalm 119:105; Judges 18:5-6; Job 23:10; all in NIV Ecclesiastes 3:1 NASB

Remember
this Thursday is
ASCENSION
THURSDAY
😉
{we never know}
😇⛅