How many parents, perhaps on vacation with the family or en route to grandma's for Thanksgiving, haven't heard their kids shout in impatience or just plain boredom, "Are we there yet?" To the child, the destination is everything. They're not interested in the journey, only the end of the journey.

Millet, professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University, likens this phenomenon to our own life journeys. Are we, in fact, so "destination-oriented" that we fail to notice, or appreciate, the journey itself? This little book contains eighteen bite-sized chapters, each treating a step in the journey we ought to both notice and appreciate. His introduction sums up the purpose of the book:

This book is about hope in Christ, about why we have reason to believe that we have a pretty good shot at happiness and joy here and the highest of eternal glories hereafter. Life is not easy, and challenges come to all of us at one time or another. Discouragement raises its ugly head, and Satan would have us lose perspective and thereby lose hope. But that need not happen. We have been given a solid doctrinal foundation for our hope, a spiritual and rational basis for believing in our grand possibilities. (p. 4)

Millet offers no easy grace here. He sees no shortcuts to exaltation, no weakening of the doctrinal foundation of the Church. Instead, he sees in that very foundation a reason for hope, for optimism.

The tone of the work is consistently gentle and pastoral. Millet sees a need for balance in the Christian life. He urges faithfulness, but moderation, in one's relationship with the Church and with the world. He condemns both worldliness and fanaticism as enemies of true Christian growth.

Perhaps these words best represent the core of his message in this book:

Grace represents God's acceptance of me. Faith represents my acceptance of God's acceptance of me. Peace is my acceptance of me. (p. 95)

Is lack of self-acceptance such a problem in the Church today? Are so many motivated more by fear than by love in their everyday Christian living? Perhaps, and Millet wants the Saints to know that, by the power the atonement, they can be set free from self-doubt and guilt, and can now move along the path to exaltation with a joy and a peace befitting the children of God.

Such a renewed viewpoint can literally change lives. It can provide a more healthy motivation for Christian service, a more sure foundation for one's hope for the end of the journey. It can help focus our energies on building a sound Christian character while avoiding the extremes of fanaticism and super-religiosity.

Are We There Yet? offers guidance and hope to those travelling the path to salvation. It is well written and, as is so often true of Millet's writing, clear and to the point. It presents a picture of the heavenward journey that many will find both appealing and encouraging.

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Jeff Needle
August 12, 2005