“Life is a journey, not a destination.”

I don’t know who said it, and I’ve heard it many times over the last 20 years, but until this last weekend its meaning has never fully computed for me.

I was in Sunriver, Oregon, with my Mixed Doubles tennis team. We won Regionals in Spokane last July, and now we hit the “big time,” as far as we were concerned. We had to play powerhouse teams from Seattle, Portland, and other west coast cities in the Pacific Northwest.

My team was excited about the tournament, and as captain of the team, I had no illusions about the stiff competition we had to face.

And yep, the opposing teams were very experienced, deep in talent and very tough.

But the matches were fun. I mean downright fun.

I just advanced to the 3.5 level this year, and the opposing teams were filled with players who had been playing at the 3.5 level for several years. So, I was a beginner at this level.

But I didn’t approach the matches from the point of view that I had to win the most points to feel good about participating. I approached the matches with the attitude of wanting to learn how to play better tennis.

My goal for the weekend was not a destination, such as win the game, even though I tried. It was a desire to become a better player, to improve my strategy, to eliminate weaknesses, to hit better, to serve more accurately, to not let the bright sun blind me, to adapt to the wind, and end each match with stronger abilities than when I began. And I achieved those results. I enjoyed the journey rather than worry about the final score—what many would consider “the destination.”

Even though my team lost every match, I did not once feel defeated. And I felt so good, despite the low score, I had to stop and ask myself, “How can you feel so good when your team score was so poor?” And when I prayed for an answer, “Life is a journey, not a destination,” popped into my mind.

And I finally got it.

The joys of life are not a place you get to in the future. It’s the blessings of God you experience each moment you’re in.

Realization of perfection doesn’t come in a moment for the human understanding. It comes in degrees. It helps to recognize this so one doesn’t set unrealistic goals. Like advancing through school from first grade to second grade, and on up to graduation from high school, there is a natural progression of learning that occurs as we master the more advanced ideas of the universe. It is foolish to spend all your time in second grade fretting about what you have yet to learn in 12th grade. The better way is to enjoy second grade while you’re in it, and thus be better prepared for third grade when you get there.

When our goals are spiritual—to grow in spiritual mindedness, to understand truth better, to love more, to bless more, to increase our understanding and skills, and express our spiritual individuality better, we’ll never be disappointed. We can always do these things with success no matter what kind of measurement the world puts to our accomplishments.

But if our goals are material—like beating an opponent, earning a certain sum of money, reaching retirement age, achieving a certain status or position—we’re likely to spend our time fixed on that goal and not make the most of the moment we’re in. Life is spent waiting rather than rejoicing and doing.

Jesus Christ said the kingdom of heaven is here and now. The blessings of heaven are not a destination, but an experience. It’s not a goal to be achieved in the future, but spirituality to be experienced in the present.

So, no more waiting! Spiritualize your aspiration to goals you can achieve no matter what competition you face. The determiner of success will not be per how stiff the competition is, but according to setting the right kind of goals in the first place.

No one can stop you from being spiritually successful.