Direct to my Pilgrims heart

I can't even begin to tell you how much I needed this.

It appeared, as so many gifts do, completely out of the blue.

A reminder from a friend ...

a reminder of lessons -

hard learned -

that I swore I'd never forget

and have

in the tug and pull 

of every day life.

Camino lessons.

For Those Who Have Far to Travel 

A Blessing for Epiphany 

If you could see

the journey whole,

you might never

undertake it,

might never dare

the first step

that propels you

from the place

you have known

toward the place

you know not. 

Call it

one of the mercies

of the road:

that we see it

only by stages

as it opens

before us,

as it comes into

our keeping,

step by

single step. 

There is nothing

for it

but to go,

and by our going

take the vows

the pilgrim takes:

 to be faithful to

the next step;

to rely on more

than the map;

to heed the signposts

of intuition and dream;

to follow the star

that only you

will recognize; 

to keep an open eye

for the wonders that

attend the path;

to press on

beyond distractions,

beyond fatigue,

beyond what would

tempt you

from the way. 

There are vows

that only you

will know:

the secret promises

for your particular path

and the new ones

you will need to make

when the road

is revealed

by turns

you could not

have foreseen. 

Keep them, break them,

make them again;

each promise becomes

part of the path,

each choice creates

the road

that will take you

to the place

where at last

you will kneel to offer the gift

most needed—

the gift that only you

can give—

before turning to go

home by

another way. 

Jan Richardson
The Painted Prayerbook


For those of us who have indeed travelled far,
we know that while we may
in fact
'come home',
we are never the same
for having made the journey.