always traveling

.

In one sense we are always traveling, 

and traveling as if we did not know where we were going. 

 In another sense we have already arrived. 

 We cannot arrive at the perfect possession of God in this life, 

and that is why we are traveling and in darkness. 

 But we already possess Him by grace, 

and therefore, in that sense, we have arrived and 

are dwelling in the light. 

 But oh! How far have I to go to find You

 in Whom I have already arrived!

~ Thomas Merton

from The Seven Storey Mountain

art by van gogh