Mile 0

A couple weeks ago my family made the move from Texas to Alaska---just a quick 4,000-mile jaunt up the road. It was tiresome and trying and long. But it was also so very beautiful.

The trip took us along the famous Alcan Highway. The beginning of the highway is studded with markers and signs proclaiming that travelers have reached the official start, aptly named "Mile 0."

(It was all very amusing considering that we had already driven 2,900 miles at that point.)

As we started our last 1,000 mile push of the trip, I joked that what many people consider the start of their journey was the end of ours. It didn't take me very long to realize that the joke was on me.

The very next day after we "finished" our 4,000-mile trip, we climbed right back into the truck and drove dozens more miles in search of a new home. As we walked into all the empty spaces and tried to imagine how our lives would look there, it hit me:

I had just driven 4,000 miles to get to my next "Mile 0."

I wasn't done... Not even close! I was gearing up for the next wave of new sights, new experiences, new people, new elements, and new opportunities.
What I had been considering the end of our journey was really just the approach to the starting line of the next one.
(Getting there had just been so daunting that I forgot!)

But so much of life is like that.

A million miles of memories and experiences linked together in a string of days. A million bumps. A million twists and turns. A million detours. A million new adventures.

We press on every new mile, burning fuel and rubber just to get to the next marker and the start of the next journey.
Another tomorrow.
Another Mile 0.

And it's tiresome. And it's trying. And it's long.

But it's also so very beautiful.

(Lamentations 3:22-23 ESV)
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.

Bring on the next mile.