Fall is upon us, with its invitations (if not insistence) of new season and fresh starts. The eternal school year inside us is all about forward movement, a pilgrimage, a setting out into a new year that in some deep-rooted way, begins now.
The Bible is filled with folk called to leave old land behind, to set out, not knowing, but trusting. I love the mysterious idea of pilgrimage: part voluntary, part kicking and screaming, with all its elements of uncertainty, doubt, and fear... and its promise of radical amazement, too.
Pilgrimage can apply to our own sense of self, to our relationships, to our work lives. We set out on them when the old ways no longer work, when we need to be stripped down to something essential and core. And to find that essence, we have to leave the old ways and venture into wilderness space. As a client said to me tonight, with sudden feeling: “I must have some new conversations!” As in deeper topics, newer, truer ways of being, of connecting. That too is a pilgrimage cry.
Note: to hear the best and final word on work as pilgrimage, be sure to come to the Entrepreneurs’ presentation here at Marble on September 18 at 6:30 to hear Sr. Carol Perry speak about this potent topic.
Yet with all the venerable trappings of setting forth, of pilgrimage as voyage out and into the future, it occurred to me that important pilgrimages also happen back into our pasts. A couple of weeks ago a key mentor came to mind in a conversation and I suddenly knew I had to make, yes, a pilgrimage to see him again—to touch in, to thank, to update, to just be with. I do believe part of our exploration in life, career and otherwise, is often about retrieval—not in a regressive way, but in the sense of picking up a part of yourself, a vital part, that may have gotten lost along the way.
So as you think of where God is calling you, in various parts of your life, where do you need to set forth boldly, in seeking mode... And where do you need to pause, remember, and retrieve that which is vital and which reminds you who you truly are?