"Wherever You Go, There You Are"

Dr. Viktor Frankl, author of the book Man's Search For Meaning, was imprisoned by the Nazis in the Second World War because he was a Jew. His wife, his children, and his parents were all killed in the holocaust. The Gestapo made him strip. He stood there totally naked. As they cut away his wedding band, Viktor said to himself. "You can take away my wife, you can take away my children, you can strip me of my clothes and my freedom, but there is one thing no person can EVER take away from me -- and that is my freedom to choose how I will react to what happens to me!" Even under the most difficult of circumstances, happiness is a choice which transforms our tragedies into triumph. One of the ways that we may choose this happiness for our lives is in the practice of the principle that “wherever you go, there you are.” The following psalm of David speaks to this truth:

“Don't worry about the wicked. Don't envy those who do wrong. For like grass, they soon fade away. Like springtime flowers, they soon wither. Trust in the Lord and do good. Then you will live safely in the land and prosper. Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you your heart's desires. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him, and he will help you. He will make your innocence as clear as the dawn, and the justice of your cause will shine like the noonday sun. Be still in the presence of the Lord, and wait patiently for him to act. Don't worry about evil people who prosper or fret about their wicked schemes. Stop your anger! Turn from your rage! Do not envy others – it only leads to harm. For the wicked will be destroyed, but those who trust in the Lord will possess the land.” (Psalm 37:1-9, NLV).

We all tend to believe at one time or another that if we were somewhere else – on vacation, with another partner, in a different career, a different home, a different circumstance – somehow we’d be happier and more content. The truth is, if you have destructive mental habits – if you get annoyed and bothered easily, if you feel angry and frustrated a great deal of the time, or if you are constantly wishing things were different, these identical tendencies will follow you wherever you go. And, the opposite is also true. If you are generally a happy person who rarely gets annoyed and bothered, then you can move from place to place, from person to person, with very little negative impact.

That’s what David meant when he closed this paragraph of Psalm 37 by saying, “…those that trust in the Lord will possess the land.” Life is like driving an automobile. It must be driven from the inside, not the outside! As we learn to focus more on becoming more peaceful with where we are, rather than where we would rather be, then we begin to experience peace. An older man taught me a beautiful lesson one-day when I casually wished him a good day. He remarked, "They're all good days. It's what we put in them that changes them.”

What are you going to put into your day today? Remember, wherever you go, there you are!