A WALK TO WALK, A DESTINY TO FULFILL, A SAVIOR TO PLEASE

A WALK TO WALK

I recently interacted with one of my friends, and I ad-libbed a particular sentence which I am still thinking about.

“We have a walk to walk, a destiny to fulfill, and a Savior to please.”

The walk I walk is so different from the walk you walk. As believers we have all been called to walk a different walk. And, of course, we must consider the regrettable possibility of failing to walk the way we have been called to walk.

When I think of ‘our Christian walk’ I cannot help but think of the poem, “Footprints in the Sand.”

The last stanza of the poem reads,

"My precious child,

I love you and will never leave you
Never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you saw only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you."

But speaking about the possibility of not walking the way we have been called to walk, and allowing God to carry us, I think some people consistently manage to crawl out of God’s arms; not only during times of trial and testing, but during any, and every other season of life’s journey. ‘Even’ believers often times live such dysfunctional lives, and I have often mused, “It seems they are trying hard to stay in trouble.” (And, if they are, they are doing a very good job of it).

There is an excellent book titled, “In His Steps. What Would Jesus Do?”

My friends, we have been called to walk in His steps.

In this book, the author challenges us to ask the very question on the cover of the volume; each and every time we are confronted with an intersection along life’s journey.

“What would Jesus do?”

Robert Frost put it this way.

“Two roads diverged in a wood. And I, I took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

The previous two sentences ‘speak’ to me. They literally send shivers up my back. For after seven decades of what has been, at times, trial and error, I have learned the value of choosing the straight and narrow, and bright and shining pathway.

A WALK TO WALK

Pt. 2

A DESTINY TO FULFILL

As a Christian counselor I have often taught my interns and clients,

“We receive a Heritage (and) We leave a Legacy.”

However, I always add one additional sentence between the two I have written, above.

“We fulfill a Destiny.”

For you see, unless I fulfill my destiny, there will be no legacy to leave, and there will be no heritage for the next person to receive. A notable person of our time, (Uhmmm, Forrest Gump) once said,

“I don’t know if we each have a destiny, or if we’re all just floatin’ around accidental-like on a breeze. But I, I think maybe it’s both. It’s both I think.”

Well, honestly, I feel quite sure Forrest is wrong about this, and that we aren’t “floating along accidental-like on a breeze,” but, rather, God has called each and every one of us to fulfill a particular destiny that He dreamed up for us by name… before He made the worlds.

I walk. I walk a lot. I walk the highways and byways in the wee hours of the morning, and when I walk, I pray,

“Lord, please don’t let me miss whatever still remains of my destiny.”

I think it would be pretty sad to reach the grand ole age of 103, and look back at our lives, and think, “I have a great deal many more regrets, than satisfactions.” And if we are true to ourselves, and believe the truth, each and every one of us knows that true satisfaction isn’t in the homes or cars or vacations we accumulate, but, rather, in having fulfilled whatever Providence designed you and me to do while we lived, and moved and breathed on the earth.

A DESTINY TO FULFILL

Pt. 3

A SAVIOR TO PLEASE

There is a song I like titled, “Friendship With Jesus.”

One of the stanza’s reads,

“A friend of Jesus, oh what bliss

that one so weak as I

Should ever have a friend like this,

to take him to the sky.”

But as much as I love the song, and this verse, in particular, I acknowledge that my friendship with Jesus, and fulfilling my destiny, requires me to role model my love for Him by loving those whom He sets in my pathway on a daily basis.

I wrote a blog about a year ago which I titled, “The Notes & Melodies of my Life,” and in it I alluded to the movie, “Mr. Holland’s Opus.” In this scene Mr. Holland is being lauded by a former student in a school assembly; as he prepares to retire).

“Mr. Holland had a great influence on my life. On a lot of lives at Kennedy High School, I know. And I have the feeling that he considers a great deal of his life misspent. He wrote this symphony of his to be performed, possibly to make him rich or famous; probably both. Well, he isn’t rich or famous; except in this little town.

“He might even consider his life a failure… but I think he has achieved a success which goes beyond mere riches or fame. Look around you, Mr. Holland. For there is not a life in this room that you have not touched. And each of us is a better person for meeting you, or for being your student. This is your symphony, Mr. Holland.

“We are the notes and melodies of your opus.

…We are the music of your life.”

As I interacted with one of my friends on social media today, I said,

“I have always been content to stand in the shadows, and allow my students to do much greater things than I have done. After all, when we get to heaven Jesus won’t ask me, ‘Have you won thousands for the kingdom?’ But, rather, He will ask, ‘Have you done what I put in your hand to do?’”

My desire, my delight, my determination is to simply please my Savior. In the end, that will be enough.

A SAVIOR TO PLEASE

by William McDonald, PhD. Copyright pending

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