Thoughts from a Traveler

Psalm 84:5 Blessed is the man whose strength is in You, whose heart is set on pilgrimage.

When we think of the word pilgrimage, often the thought of travel to the ancient lands comes to mind. Every year at Easter we hear talk of the thousands of Christians making pilgrimage to the Holy Lands. Biblically speaking, however, the word is used to describe man’s journey through life on earth as he awaits his eternal homecoming with the Lord as referenced in the Psalms above.

Genesis 47:7-9 And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, How many are the days of the years of thy life? And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years: few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers’ in the days of their pilgrimage.

Here we have Jacob saying his one hundred thirty years are few and nothing compared the longevity of his forefathers. Me, I think I’ve doing good when I get to the end of each day! Some days it seems like night will never come so I can count the day as past and put it behind me. Not all days, just those particularly hard one, no emails of chastisement, please.

I like knowing life is a pilgrimage or journey on my way to eternity. I like to travel, so this is travel with a supreme purpose! Makes those harder days I mentioned worthwhile.

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” (Lao-tzu, Chinese philosopher 604 BC - 531 BC) Although this is the popular form of this quotation, a more correct translation from the original Chinese would be "The journey of a thousand miles begins beneath one's feet."

Either way, the point is our pilgrimage has a humble beginning of one step and starts exactly where you are. Without the first step, the earth beneath your feet remains the same. I don’t want to be here just to be here. I love that my life, my pilgrimage has a purpose. God knows the roads I will walk in my pilgrimage, the hardships I will encounter, the valleys to cross, and the mountains I must climb.

I don’t know how long my pilgrimage will last and it’s probably wise that I don’t. God gives me strength enough for each day at a time. Max Lucado wrote: ‘Days are the bite-sized portions of life, the God-designed segments of life management.’ Amen, to that!

“This is the day the Lord has made!  Rejoice and be glad in it!” Happy traveling, Friends.