24 x 36, original mixed media painting created with paper collage and oil paint on cradled panel.
 
Growing up, I was so fixated on my destinations I would push to make my journey as efficient and quick as possible.  I would muscle my way through all the obstacles and keep a constant gaze on the distant prize.  I would breathlessly make it to my destination and there would be this little moment of joy in the accomplishment followed by the still, unrelentless emptiness that comes from realizing that I didn't remember anything about how I got to my prize, who I journeyed with and now I had gotten where I wanted to be, but it didn't bring the satisfaction my heart longed for.  
As I've grown, I've learned to hold the destination in my gaze without sacrificing the beauty of the path itself and in doing so, I've found that my heart grows and I become ready to experience the destination in a fullness I would have missed without wholeheartedly embracing the journey. 
 
 "He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end. " Eccl 3:11