The Process

"We must never put our dreams of success as God's purpose for us. The question of getting to a particular end is a mere incident. What we call the process, God calls the end. His purpose is that I depend on Him and on His power now. It is the process, not the end, which is glorifying to God."

-Oswald Chambers

If anyone should understand this wisdom, it SHOULD be me. After all, I am the one who tells the legend of zen painters burning their first 1,000 paintings before attaining the status of a zen painting master. Why did they practice this seemingly bizarre ritual? By destroying the paintings, these painters' focus was shifted from the final product to the process of painting. In other words, they learned to fall in love with the ACT of painting rather than the result.

Did I not write a paper, just last semester, about the "path of healing" manifested through Frederick Law Olmsted's body of work? I argued that Olmsted's affinity to the notion of an English Garden Path was not simply an aesthetic device or even a pedestrian connection between an origin and a destination. Rather, the JOURNEY along the path invited healing and restoration.

I could recount numerous other anecdotes to represent my fascination with what I call "The Process." Yet now, I read the words of Chambers, and I am silent. How is it that I have failed to see this pattern in my personal WALK with Christ? Lord help me to depend on You in the present. Help me to be immersed in Your process instead of rushing through to the next destination. Forgive me for striving to achieve my own "dreams of success" by attributing them to Your will. Help me to walk with You.