Pilgrim-Age

“Life is lived forwards but understood backwards.” Soren Kierkegaard

We live in very interesting times. We live in a time when more is known than perhaps any other time in history. And yet, we know less about living life. Why is that?

To often we spend time thinking about the future and what it will look like. Seldom do we think about paths that brought us to where we are today.

Kierkegaards words are poignant. Yes, we are living life forward, but understanding comes when we are able to look backward.

People I meet everyday talk glibly about pilgrimages, journeys and trips.

I have been thinking about the word, "pilgrimage." I think I know what it means. There are days when I feel like I am on a "pilgrimage," and there are days when it seems like the way is difficult to find.

Quiet frankly, I spend more time mapping out future terrain than I do studying the maps of those who have walked this path before me.

I want to re-work the word "pilgrimage" for a moment. I want to change it by inserting a hyphen. The new word, "pilgrim-age."

We are living in the "pilgrim-age" where everyone is searching for the path that will lead them into a God-shaped encounter. Sadly, the path often takes many toward god-shaped encounters that lead them astray.

I am calling for shepherds, griots, leaders to remind us again that we are living in a "pilgrim-age." An age where we affirm that we are on a sacred journey that re-defines who we are and where we are headed.

The apostle Paul was onto something when he wrote, "Make it your ambition to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business and to work with your hands, just as we told you, so that your daily life may win the respect of outsiders..." I Thessalonians 4:11-12.

Here are a couple of questions that I must ask myself if my ambition is to "lead a quiet life."

Am I on a walk or am I on a pilgrimage?

Am I fully present in this "pilgrim-age?"

Am I winning the respect of others by what I do or by what He is doing in me?

I am living forwards, but I am looking backwards. Backwards at key intersections that forged new directions for the Church. Backwards at significant paths taken by those who beckon me to walk faithfully in this "pilgrim-age."

Thank you St. Francis of Assisi...thank you Francois Fenelon....thank you David Brainerd....thank you Jonathan Edwards...thank you to those on whose shoulders I regularly stand to get a better view of what's behind.

I am on a pilgrimage in a "pilgrim-age."

Backward....Forward.

Be sure to look both ways before you cross the street.