Pilgrimage

 The dictionary definition of a pilgrimage is basically a journey.  Sometimes it's a journey for personal growth and exploration that may or may not have a spiritual focus.  

Or could it possibly be a pathway that leads to an encounter with God?

Jesus said

“I have come that they might have life and have it abundantly.”  John 10:10 (ESV)

We are each on a Pilgrimage, on a journey through life.  On this journey we can, if we choose, grow closer to the one who created and sustains all of life.  God created us to glorify His name; To give Him glory; To let people know just how awesome He is.

“. .  bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.”  Isaiah 43:6b-7 (KJV)

Our journey continues.  It doesn’t stop!  We keep moving, even when we don't think we are.  As long as we live, we’re on that journey.

On that journey we follow a pathway, a road, a trail.  Life goes on and on and on.  No matter how often you’d like to get off that pathway, sit down by the side of life and quit, or run ahead on the pathway to see what’s around the next corner. There is no way, you still go, step by step, by step.  Sometimes you take those steps alone and sometimes you are carried. 

When you were just a tiny baby the pathway was bright and noisy.  But you didn’t have to worry about anything, those around you provided what was needed.  You didn’t look ahead because you didn’t know anything but your own place on that pathway – the place was called NOW. 

As you grew and took your first steps you learned just how hard that pathway was, you fell and weren't always picked up.  You cried and weren’t always comforted.  But during that time you still knew there was One who had watched over you from the day you were conceived.  You fell asleep knowing that He would still watch over you.  Truly, you knew it in your heart.  You may not remember that, but God was there all the time. And as you grew you learned just who it was that carried and watched over you.

Psalm 139:7-12 (NIV)

Where can I go from your Spirit?  Where can I flee
from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;

if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.

If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far
side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.

If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me and the light
become night around me,” even the darkness will
not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, 
for darkness is as light to you. 

For you created my inmost being, you knit me together
in my mother’s womb.

When we are on the journey through life, we can rejoice or resist, grieve or grow, compare our path to our neighbor’s path, or be contented with the road we’re traveling on.  We can take a detour around our ambitions, or stubbornly go our own way.  We can walk with God and with other Christians or try to “go it alone.”  We can try to circle back, speed up, slow down or even crumble. But we cannot stop!  You are still on that journey.  That sounds so tiring, doesn’t it?  

But here’s the blessing.  God has made us so that we can rest. We can sleep.  Sleep is like the rest in the middle of a musical piece.  It gives us a chance to breathe, and the rest gives the music an added dimension, an added atmosphere.

When I wake from my slumber I see in my window
a mantle of light 
softly touching the morn.

When the black sky recedes
from my wakening sight, 
and the sun’s mighty radiance erases the night,
I reach for my Savior.  I call on His Name,
and the strength to go on
is reborn.

May your day and your night be filled with the blessing of knowing who watches over you as you travel this path of life.

Diane