But you’ve arrived!

This is what a beautiful woman said to me the other day as we sat chatting, and I have thought a lot about it ever since.

I had just preached at Church and I was telling her how I was struggling with who I was, the calling on my life, and that I wondered what more God has in store for me. And she looked at me so confused and said: “But you’ve arrived!”

I knew right away what she meant, and I knew she meant it with good intentions.
Because Phil and I were the Senior Leaders at Church, surely this meant that we had achieved success. That we had reached the pinnacle of what God has for us.

I’m not sure how well I did at keeping a straight face and not look genuinely confused or to not laugh out loud. Not laugh at her of course, but laugh at the thought that I have arrived and someone could look at me and think that!

The Cambridge dictionary defines having arrived as “To have achieved success and become famous.” The Urban dictionary defines it as this “When one reaches the finish line or otherwise achieves a victory, that required great endurance.”

I can tell, you, friends I feel none of the above. And so as I do, I got to thinking….what would it mean for me “to arrive”?

What would my perfect life look like? (if there is such a thing!)
What would success look like for me? Not success in the world’s eyes, but in the eyes of the only one who really matters?
What would my life look like if I feel I have arrived?
Do we ever arrive?
Maybe our arrival is when we walk through those pearly gates and we hear those words “Well done good and faithful servant.” Is that when we actually arrive?

I don’t actually know the answer, but what I do know is that God is far from finished with me.

I know I have not arrived at God’s best for me. I know I am on a journey towards wholeness and a life filled with Gods truth of who I am. I know I feel so far away from having arrived, and some days I wonder if I will even get close!

I was flattered that she would look at my life and think that I had arrived! That she would think that I have made it. But to be honest, I hope I never feel I have arrived. My hope is that I will always continue to grow, I will always pursue more of what God has for me, and that I would never settle in life, thinking I had made it!

Because friends, when you walk with God, there is ALWAYS more!