On our many road trips there have been many miles of just sitting there, doing the routine, humdrum thing.
Yet, if we had not done the routine thing, we would never have made it to the Grand Tetons or Shore Acres State Park above the Pacific.
Without the many mindless miles in-between, we would never have made it home for Christmas, or to a summer vacation with our children.
Mindless? Humdrum? Those are not the right words for the miles in between.
In our travels we have seen such wonderful things along the way! We have enjoyed amazingly sweet fellowship, and devoured a truckload of strawberry Twizzlers and sunflower seeds. There have been miles and miles of prayer, and miles and miles of listening to encouraging books or sermons. 
There have been amusing signs and cultural markers leaving us in light-hearted conversation for hours – like the tractor crossing sign on the Ohio Turnpike, or the Indiana billboard for the Eikenberry-Eddy Funeral Home.
We’ve been buoyed up by singing hymns together and drifting into the evening to soft jazz or the Hallelujah Chorus. We once took a road trip that was the worst and best because the multiple “accidents” were met by turnaround moments provided by God’s grace.
Humdrum? Mindless?
Routine and necessary, yes, but hardly a wasting of time and energy.
Those many miles between point A and B are much like my day was today. It was a routine day filled with such things as making coffee, microwaving the oatmeal, doing dishes, washing the kitchen floor, doing dishes, laying out lunch, doing dishes, walking the dog, taking out the garbage, taking a nap. Routine, necessary, yes, but hardly humdrum. All those things were in sweet fellowship with my beautiful wife and loving Savior. Glorious!
My journey may not be in a straight line, but my journey through this day points to God-blessed and God-created moments that I cherish in thankfulness this evening. Twists and turns, routine and necessary perhaps – but never mindless, humdrum, meaningless meandering.
Our Gracious Master took us to where He wanted us to go today. By His grace my journey took me into moments engaging my neighbors and their new puppy, praying for friends on the telephone dealing with the COVID-19 isolation, and meditating over a letter to a young man in prison.
Oh, what glory in the miles in between that God appoints as part of His gloriously full, perfect plan for our lives!
“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.”
2 Corinthians 4:7 (ESV)
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