You and I Have a Journey to Make
Within that family,each individual human being is set apart for a mission given to no other. “I have called you by name. You are mine.” (Isa 43:1) Mission comes from the Latin word for sent. The name signifies that you have been sent by a loving God to walk a path opened just for you. Yes, you are encompassed by limits. Boundaries of space and time shape your life. These have been laid down by the architect of your being, and then that shaping is modified by choices you yourself have made.
A divine voice deep within us speaks, but do we hear the message? “Thus says the Lord your Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, who teaches you to profit, who leads you the way you should go.’ ” (Is 48:17) The way I should go. My ears must listen, blocking out the shouts of the world and letting silence calm me, as I consider my next step. “You show me the path of life.” (Ps 16:11)
Find passages in Isaiah that arouse your heart and make your confidence grow. “Say to those who are of fearful heart, ‘Be strong. Fear not!’… A highway will be there, called the Holy Way…. It is for those with a journey to make and on it the redeemed will walk.” (Isa 35:4, 8–9). On this holy way lies our mission, a route designed for the traveler by our Creator. No one walks along the exact same path as someone else.
We have a journey to make. We can’t be sure what lies beyond that upcoming curve, but we know we do not walk alone. Jesus is our companion, a brother who transcends all temporal and spatial limitations. In His earthly life, he — like us — moved from hour to hour as he fulfilled the mission he came into this world to accomplish. Now he asks us to share that mission during the hours which we have been allotted.
My sense of mission is not something centered only on me. When I embrace God’s will, that embrace helps others, too. In dealing with those others, you and I are often enlightened about the mission we are meant to undertake. A friend may tell you that you have particular gifts that bring light and warmth to people’s lives, that you know how to communicate hope and encouragement. Or in a time of affliction, that you lift the hearts of those who mourn. The list could go on and on. We may not be aware of our unique giftedness until we listen to an outside voice that leads us to ponder more deeply the divine voice speaking within.
There can be hesitation to respond to a mission opening before us, one that we’ve been told has the label of our name on it. So we pray, “Teach me the way I should go, for to you I lift up my soul.” (Ps 143:8) Our special talents and positive qualities are employed for the various purposes God weaves into our days. But always, prudence is necessary. Lest we overdo, we use discretion, just as the Book of Proverbs urges in lines that carry an undercurrent of humor, “The one who blesses a neighbor with a loud voice early in the morning, will be counted as cursing.” (Prov 27:14) Although we are imperfect, this realization will not hold us back. Angels make no mistakes; yet God has chosen us, who are faulty human instruments.
Every day summons me to apply myself as I recognize more fully the divine plan for my existence. Each successive instant invites me to partake of what that moment offers for advancing in holiness along the way of redemption Isaiah describes. Do I waste the instant? Lose it? Let it slip away in worthlessness? Or do I open myself to its possibilities? I can give in to anger, impatience, greed, and envy, souring the moment, turning its freshness into bitterness. Do I look back at evening to weigh how I spent the daytime hours, or perhaps misspent them? Do I regret time lost, thrown away on what is valueless? How do I retrieve lost time? I go to the one who is beyond the temporal and hear, “I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore pitying you, I have drawn you to me.” (Jer 31:3) I am being assured that past transgressions do not block the grace offered for my future. When discouragement overtakes me, I pause and remind myself that I am here on a mission, as Jesus was. Like Him, my particular human nature is called to give glory to God. I ask Christ to help me make better use of the tomorrows that lie ahead.
The person who gives me hope is the Good Thief, in agony on the cross beside Jesus. Here is a criminal paying by his life for his misdeeds. Out of great physical pain, he acknowledges that he is receiving the penalty his actions deserve. But then he turns to the man who “has done nothing wrong. And he said, ‘Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.’” Jesus assures the contrite robber, “Today you will be with me in Paradise.” (Lk 23:42) Some have seen in his last moments, fulfillment of the repentant robber’s special mission to provide confidence to the remorseful.
No matter how much we have misused the passing hours of our mortal years, we have a Savior who redeems the time. We say, as did the thief on Calvary, “Remember me.” Faith assures us that Jesus always remembers us. ow we ask him to keep us remembering, attentive to the divine presence in each successive moment as we move ahead. Christ makes us increasingly aware of how the ongoing decades of our human life share his mission.
Many factors affect our mission — the culture of which we are a part, the wealth or poverty of our family, the peace or warfare that surrounds us. Other contributing elements are the personality God gave me, my physical health, the effect of ageing — all these play roles in how I share Jesus’ mission at this time. The author of Ephesians speaks of “having the eyes of your hearts enlightened that you may know what is the hope to which God has called you.” (1:18) That hope energizes me and opens wide my eyes to see how I can move ahead, fulfilling today and then tomorrow the mission to which God calls me.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” (Rom 15:13) Let each one of us sing our own song of hope in a melody taught us by Jesus.
