It Isn't Just Where You Go

Photo Credit: Ryan Roth-Klinck

By Andrea Lingle

The active work of Pilgrimage begins with the decision to go. Who knows what work of grace, acting in the in-between places of life, gets a pilgrimage to the decision to go, but when the decision is made, the activities of pilgrimage begin. The forms are filled out, the deposit is paid, substitute teachers and preachers and managers are lined up, and boots are purchased. It is time for an adventure. Preparation is what gets you there.

When I was a teenager, I got my pilot's license. I am an excellent navigator. I can read a map with ease and am careful to orient myself to north in any new place, but I really struggle with rights and lefts. I can remember my hands shaking when I was told to enter a left downwind in preparation to land—not because I was afraid of landing, but because I had no idea which way to turn. Right and left have made no intuitive impression on me. I just have no sense of it. And, both hands look like an "L" to me, so don't even try that one. A ninety degree angle is a ninety degree angle. My flight instructor took to tapping me on the shoulder when it became clear that "turn right" was not reliable. I confessed my trouble to my land instructor and she told me something I still remember, "Poor planning makes for poor performance." So, I figured out I could put a marker on my left hand and draw boxes on the maps for right and left downwind paths. Planning keeps you alive.

What does it mean to go on pilgrimage? It means to plan to encounter the Divine. What a bold idea. To set aside time to be transformed. It seems that such a process should be all incense burners and candle light, spilling over with drama and meaning, but it starts with planning. It starts with the ridiculous idea that one could set a date for transcendent experience, and that one must find a dog sitter before setting out.

For the next several weeks, as we meditate on pilgrimage, I will invite you to a pilgrimage of ten slow steps. First, you will need to map out your space. I don't care if you turn right or left, you will just take ten slow steps. Ten extremely slow steps. If you would like to walk your steps, find a space where you can walk in a moderately large circle and let your foot strike the ground as slowly as possible. Feel your weight shift from one foot the the next. Peel your back foot off the floor noticing when it loses contact with the floor. Is it your big toe that hangs on the longest? If you want to draw your steps, gather a paper and pen or pencil. Make ten slow circles, letting your pencil rub over the paper so that you feel the slide of graphite onto paper. If you would like to use a finger labyrinth, find one you can use several times and let it take ten slow breaths to complete. If you would like to listen to your steps, find a piece of slow music or a series of ten bell chimes rung slowly. The method of taking your ten slow steps is up to you. Gather your supplies, circumscribe your space, make the steps slow.

If you participate in the Touchstones prayer at 9:00 am and 9:00 pm, you will notice that the text for this theme is "Ten Slow Steps." You are invited to take your ten slow steps at 9 and 9 to anchor your day.

Pilgrim, you are so brave to dare to believe that a journey could transform you. Could ten slow steps taken over days and weeks heal you, inspire you, break you open? What do you need to take these steps? Go get them.