I should say that I’ve never called this journey a ‘pilgrimage,’ but as I read on it made so much sense.

What a journey this life has been… for me and probably for most of us. Yes, It has been a mystical experience, yet a vulnerable one also.

It’s funny how caught up we can be in our ‘circumstances’ to the point where we end up going nowhere fast… I love the three points made in the body of the text, which is a great reminder of the bigger picture which we are heading for.

I think of when one goes on a holiday, you often come home with more than you went away with. Laden down with souvenirs that, once the lustre of the holiday has passed, gather dust on the shelves. I don’t want my pilgramages in life, with God, to be like this. The journey God had me walk with Him late last year had me discarding things to make space in my heart and mind for the souvenirs, new patterns and truths, that God lovingly deposited along the way.

I loved the line you spoke of in one of the songs you wrote: “the hardest journey is the one we trek inside.”

Oh how true this is but how lovely the fruit that comes to bear after the journey is taken. I praise God for that.

This is beautifully and elegantly written.

You have sketched the canvas, painted a picture, framed it and hung it on the wall for us all to see.

You speak about the vision, journey and calling, yet also highlight the practical aspects of packing, prayer and perspective.

Thankyou for the time and thought you invested in this post.

Simon

Great article. I love your poetic way with words and the way you relate our physical journey preparation to our spiritual journey. I’ve had to do a lot of travel to different cultures, particularly Asia, doing God’s work. There are a lot of preparations to be made before each trip, but ultimately, we are all on a journey with God and need to prepare. I love the fact that each person’s journey is different but there are ways we can all prepare ourselves in that will help us!

Thanks for article.

Wendy Wells

I like the idea of a pilgrimage as a journey to meet a person. I could never relate to the concept of pilgrimages until I took a trip to the UK for the first time 4 years ago. I study 19th-century British lit, and to actually be in England where all my literary heroes and villains lived and walked was amazing! I especially was moved by going to places where Charles Dickens and George Eliot lived (and seeing their graves). And seeing the “Bird and Baby” where C.S. Lewis and the Inklings met was great fun! Then my husband and I took a trip this past summer, and we stopped at the Lake District to see what they call “Wordsworth country.” We visited Dove Cottage and Rydal Mount, and hiked around Lake Grasmere, and saw the field of daffodils they Wordsworths planted in memory of their daughter. Wordsworth famously talked of “spots of time”–a metaphor that encompasses both time and space–that he could revisit time and again in his memory (and then write about to add another layer of reflexivity). I think a pilgrimage is like that. It is a “spot of time” in which we find a Person that has gone before. In the UK I found Dickens, C.S. Lewis, Eliot, and Wordsworth; in my life as a whole I find Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith who has gone before us. I like the idea of being present to God who has gone before me on the trip I call my life. I don’t usually think that way – but right NOW, Right HERE, God has gone before me, and I am joining Him in this spot of time.

I don’t know if that makes sense; but it’s good to be challenged to think about these things in a new way. I’, looking forward to continuing in the E*r course!

Blessings,

Mary