Restoration Blog: Pilgrimage

I've been considering the idea of pilgrimage quite a lot this past month after doing a wee bit of traveling within the UK as well as having my birthday (wohooo I'm a big kid now in both European and US culture!) this past week. My weird tangents and train of thoughts all bubble down to a simple idea: every man's life is a pilgrimage. We take a journey filled with God only knows what--no joke intended--until the final destination of passing away into another life. However, when referring to heaven I honestly would shy away from using pilgrimage imagery for a pilgrim implies the hard, dusty foot traveled way of this life...which doesn't really suit any talk of living in perfect harmony with God and man that will be the absolutely unimaginable experience we have in heaven. So what's better imagery for that? Fat cheeked cherub babies carrying puny cupid arrows? Meh. Not my style. That's just as unsuitable as pilgrimage imagery.

One of my absolute favorite musicians in the whole world, Brooke Fraser, created an entire album off the basic idea of pilgrimage. She says that all people go through this world marking the land and territories with their own flags. As people die or move away, new life is brought into the land and new flags are raised. I think this is stunning, and will simply not go on about how much of a genius she is because then I'd have to be wiping some drool from my keyboard. Her concept has really resonated with me as I've met such an array of characters throughout the UK, as well as even just being introduced to vastly different landscapes that seem to tell their own stories of pilgrimage even though they never move.

So where does that leave us? If we know that life is a pilgrimage, it implies that the road may be rocky, mountainous, vast, lonesome, packed without air or elbow room, breathtaking, smelly, boring, dull and grey, colorful, joyful, or even simply stir nearly nothing in us at all. I think the ideal is to focus less on where your pilgrimage currently is, for there will always be a swift change around the corner. Rather, I'd like to see what pilgrims are traveling alongside me. For after all, if we are all headed to the same destination and we all are constantly being tossed by our surroundings, I think it's quite fitting that we should support and love one another along the journey. It makes perfect sense why the greatest commandment after loving God with your whole heart is to then love your neighbor. God knows we are His pilgrims, facing one hell of a road ahead. So for this month, I'm learning to thank Him so much for the people He brings alongside us.

Pilgrim God,
our shoes might be filled with stones,
our feet are telling us we have walked,
our faces are marked with the fresh air.
As we arrive may we know Your presence
in us and our companions
just as we met You
in the journey of our pilgrimage. Amen.
~Southwell pilgrimage Anglican prayer

The Road goes ever on and on down from the door where it began. Now far ahead the Road has gone, and I must follow, if I can, pursuing it with eager feet, until it joins some larger way where many paths and errands meet. And whither then? I cannot say.
~J.R.R Tolkien