I write this as I am sitting here on the Megabus, along for the ride as it is drives toward its destinations. As I look around, there is a dense fog all around us, and the rain creates a steady pitter-patter across the glass roof. In front of me, a pair of Indians are softly joking in what I assume is Hindi. I hear a woman speaking Spanish to someone somewhere behind me. Everyone else, my seat mate included, is fast asleep. This makes me wonder: Why must we as humans think about points so much? Why must we think so much of point A and point B?
It is not even in relation to just traveling either, oh no. Throughout a given term in school, all we think about is getting as many points as possible on that final exam and on the midterm, not really paying attention to any points in between “start” and “finish,” to the things we are learning, to the power God is filling us with to not even necessarily be 4.0 students, but simply students doing as God so declares we are to do.
However, regardless of whether we are talking about grades and education or traveling on a Megabus, just along for the ride, we focus so much on “what’s next” that we fail to notice the beauty of the “in between.” We sleep through it, thinking it insignificant, when the journey truly is just as important (if not more important) than the destination itself.
Life itself is a series of points. In infancy, we learn to crawl, then to walk, then to talk. As a toddler, we learn what “no” means. We start grade school at 4 or 5. We hit puberty. We get our driver’s license and our first car. We get our first date, our first kiss. We graduate from high school and go to college, or we just go right into the work force. If we go to college, we go through final exams and midterms galore, but focus only on graduating with a GPA that will only matter in getting that initial job. Some of us continue on in school, entering school to focus on getting out as soon as we can. Eventually, we get jobs, focused only on when we can retire. Somewhere between high school graduation and retirement, we reach the “points” of “getting engaged,” “marriage,” “anniversaries,” and “starting a family.” Once we retire, we focus on “the end,” but also are forced to begin to look at and find joy in the “in between.” We may even begin to think how foolish we were to not enjoy it all those years ago. When “the end” finally arrives, there is the afterlife, which has no end, no point B.
In conclusion, I ask you, no, I implore you, in this nameless season between Christmas and Lent, stop your busy-bodying. Arise from your sleeping through the “in between” and look around. God created more than just points 1, 2, 3, et al. He created an infinite number of “in betweens.” Look at them, because they exemplify His glory just as much as the “points” we focus so much on. I know this is something I need to work on, but let us all open our eyes to the beauty of the “in between,” of all God’s creation.
Written by Bradley Rito, MDiv student at Pittsburgh Theological Seminary