The Pilgrim

One of the lessons that I learned last year on the Camino about being a pilgrim is that we keep moving towards our ultimate destination.  That is why, unless you were injured or sick, they did not encourage pilgrims to stay in a town more than one day- they wanted us to continue moving forward.   

Having always been a person on the go and usually juggling multiple task at once, I was familiar with going from one event to the next and the continuos movement forward.  Then this past year, of not having any real commitments or plans has been a drastically different lifestyle for me- the Scheduler of Schedules!  I no longer had the 5-7 standing events a week like I did when I worked at NCTC.  Now on an average week, I might have one actual commitment.  So my life got slower, slower in a good way... Allowing me to be more focus and present with God.  Not distracted with so many worldly things. And it was a good year for moving forward personally.

Then, I headed off again on a pilgrimage and although this time I am not required to move on, I have found myself naturally moving on.  I come to see what I came to see and then I find a quiet church or chapel and pray for most of the day and then I am ready to move-on.  I do not want to waste the time I am given.  With the concept of a pilgrim, constantly moving, it helps me to think about the bag I carry and really how little I actually need.   

Ultimately as a pilgrim, we are walking towards heaven and on a path that will bring us nearer to God.  Like this trip and constantly moving and not delaying, I think we too must not delay to get nearer to God.  After all, why would we delay the greatest joy that we can/could ever know?

It is amazing when I look back and see how God has woven this pilgrimage together for me and how everything built upon a previous lesson and how it is all interconnected.  As I referenced the steps in my last blog, we continue to move forward and take that next step as a pilgrim in this world.  Sometimes we do not see the next step but we trust and go where we are led by the Holy Spirit and that next step appears.  I was unsure at some points where God was leading me in my prayer time but I went where I thought I was suppose to go and then I saw the next step.  Truly brilliant how everything came together for me on this trip and how God answered my questions in prayer.  Looking back, it is always easier to see the pattern verses trying to see that pattern when we are in the middle.  I believe everything happens for a reason and there are no random coincidences which makes the sequence of events always that much better when you look at the big picture... It all had a purpose.

So I will leave Rome tomorrow to return to Virginia before making a roundabout way back to the DFW area.  From there, I will keep moving and taking that next step and we will see where that leads!  

Colossians 4:17