It is no ordinary journey – are you going?
Lots of money is saved up over a period of time. Even as they go about their regular day to day life, in the back of their minds they know all of this is leading to something. Something significant.
For some, they may only be able to do this once in a lifetime. Others get to do it every week. Some travel from hundreds and thousands of miles. Others get to go regularly because it’s in walking distance. Some have to get the right outfit for the occasion. Others are content to show up however they feel.
That is not a reflection however, on how they treat the occasion. This is a special occasion. For some it is treated with solemnity. For others it’s treated with great excitement. For all it is something worth investing time, effort and passion. this is not an ordinary affair.
Loved ones know how important it is. They know not to bring up anything around that time. They know that it will be impossible to gain much in the way of attention during that period of time.
They are going there. to that special place, for that special time to conduct that special activity. It is time for the pilgrimage.
Some classify the pilgrimage as a religious event. A lot can be said for what that could mean these days, though. It doesn’t have to be about organised and recognised religions. Fans of television programmes, sporting events and other pastimes have now got their own rituals and special places and times. Whether it’s a fan’s convention or the birthplace of a famous artist, such can be the importance of it that for the person in question it is a pilgrimage.
It got me thinking about how certain pilgrimages were developed in the first place. Some remember an event of significance by going to the place where it happened. People of old would have an encounter that changed the course of their lives. They would mark the location and the time in which that took place and then every year they would return to that place. Generations would take the same trek to mark that same encounter, some in the hope of having a similar encounter themselves.
People would share reports of gaining a particular feeling being in the geographical location. They had prepared themselves for something, but even that would not set them up for what they experienced as they took that journey. They certainly were not the same people returning from the pilgrimage as they were when they left out for it.
Is there a need for a pilgrimage for you? For what purpose? You getting ready for it?
It is no ordinary journey – are you going?
(Photo by shubham gond on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
Life With CD 