The Pilgrim's Way

Last night, we were reading our nightly dose of the Psalms (I know, I know, I too can't believe that we haven't made it through this book yet, at a 15 minute a day pace). Carl noted how many of the Psalms we were reading last night seem to be saying, "God, why don't you do more for us," or "God, do this and do that," and perhaps an equal number had God saying, "Look what I've done for you" (we were reading Psalm 81, which has a long speech in God's voice). It made want to go back and do a count of the Psalms by theme.

Then we got to some of my favorite lines from the Psalms: "Happy are the people whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on the pilgrims' way" (Psalm 84, verse 4) and "Steadfast love and faithfulness have met together; righteousness and peace have kissed each other" (Psalm 85, verse 10). I love the personification in that last verse, the idea that righteousness and peace can do something so fundamentally human as kiss.

I also love the idea of our lives as a pilgrim's path. I sometimes feel like I should have made more progress in my faith journey, and I sometimes feel despair that I'm still wrestling with aspects that I should have mastered long ago. Sometimes I feel despair because I thought I had mastered those aspects, and then my mastery unravels. I like the idea that God seems to expect this cycle, but as long as we turn to God for strength and keep on the pilgrims' way, we're living up to our full potential.