Individual, Marriage and Family Therapist
P. Roger Hillerstrom M.A., L.M.H.C.
                                             Life's  "Station"
Picture yourself on a trip, traveling by train.  The scenery is beautiful, the food is delicious, the ride is comfortable.  

But your mind isn't on the scenery, your focus is on the destination.  On a certain day, at a certain time the train will pull into the  station.  There will be parties, and balloons, and crowds cheering.  The sun will shine and the birds will sing.  Your questions will be answered, your needs will be met, and the pieces of life will fit together as you've always wanted them to.  You've worked hard and waited all your life to arrive at the station.

Meanwhile, on the train, you're getting impatient.  It's a long trip, much longer than you expected.  You stare ahead, down the tracks, and wait.  You pace the aisles, twiddle your thumbs and wait. You become irritable with the other passengers, anxious and frustrated.  You count the hours as you wait endlessly for the station.

Then, somewhere along the line, the truth dawns on you that there is no station.  No place of arrival.  No "Once and for all."  How could that be!? That's never been the plan. You feel betrayed and angry. Who did this to you?  Someone needs to fix it, or pay.  

"When I reach the station, It'll be great!"  "When I'm 18, or 21, or 65."  "When I get married, or buy the house, or pay off the mortgage, or get the promotion...then it'll be great and I'll be complete."  Somewhere there's got to be a place of arrival, we each have our image of what that i
As a child I viewed "grown - up" as a plateau where life leveled - out smoothly. Where life became controllable and predictable. I'm now well into midlife and beyond, and I see the truth that even adulthood is never static.  I'm still learning, growing, changing, and struggling every day.  I still get "stuck" in reactions and perceptions from my past.  Tomorrow still holds surprises.

Each of us has been blessed in many unique ways.  Those blessings can easily be overlooked as we remain impatiently obsessed with the station.  But the station is only a dream that will keep us dissatisfied with today.  The value and joy of the trip will be in how you respond to the trip itself.

Part of finding abundance, this side of heaven, is accepting the fact that there is no "station" in this life.  No place of arrival where trials end.  The beauty and wonder is in our growth, change and character development.  

God's plan isn't to bail us out of our daily struggles, but to be with us in them. His glory is in our growth, not our arrival. 


For the journey untraveled and unseen
Contact Roger - (425) 623 - 9376