The day has almost arrived. The bags are packed. The last minute list of chores is nearly completed. This evening we pick up the rental car. And tomorrow morning, Lord willing, we hit the road. This first leg of the journey will take four days. We’ll return home for just a couple of days, and then set out once more with plans to be away at least six weeks.
This is a long time to be away from home for someone who really doesn’t enjoy travel. So why go? I suppose there could be many answers. Saint Augustine, in the late fourth century, wrote, “People travel to wonder at the heights of mountains, at huge waves of the sea, at the long courses of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, at the circular motion of the stars…and they pass by themselves without wondering. Indeed, the world is full of wonder. But the crowning glory of all God’s creation are those He fashioned in His own image, we humans, we “earth creatures”. (“Human” is derived from the Latin humus meaning “earth, ground”.) Isn’t it curious that we, who were created to reflect God’s glory, are so common, so ordinary, so “earthy”, that we often miss the extraordinary wonder of who we are? I wonder, in missing, in overlooking the miracle of every person God places in our path, do we also often miss God Himself? In failing to notice ourselves, do we fail to notice the One who is always at work within us?
In Romans 8:29, Paul wrote, “For those whom [God] foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son…”. Imagine! God’s desire for each one of those who belong to Him is to make us like Christ!
It is patently obvious to anyone who knows me even a little bit that I have a long way to go before I reach Christlikeness. It has been quite a journey to this point. And I know there is a very long road ahead. And I am a pilgrim on this road, like Christian in John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress or Much Afraid in Hannah Hurnard’s
Hind’s Feet on High Places.
In The Soul of a Pilgrim, Christine Valters Paintner writes, “Journeys are movements from one place to another, often to a place that is unfamiliar, foreign, and strange. In fact, the Latin root of the word pilgrim, peregrini, means ‘strange’ or ‘stranger’. The journey to become a pilgrim means becoming a stranger in the service of transformation.”
How I long for whatever transformation my sweet Lord desires to work in me! Three themes have come to mind as I have prayed over this upcoming journey. All, it seems, might facilitate such transformation by positioning my heart and soul in a posture most receptive to God’s work within. They are seeking, listening, and surrender.
And so I set out on this journey in search of the God who is always present, but often hidden. I want to allow plenty of time and space to be still and listen. And, when I sense His leading or direction, when I notice that still, small voice, I desire to surrender. My prayer for this pilgrimage is, “Lead me on Your path, O Lord.” Amen!