Pilgrim

A Pilgrim is not just one who came from Europe to what was not accurately called the New World.
A Pilgrim is one that goes on a journey, a religious journey, for a reason. Years ago, in the '60's Annie Dillard wrote the book Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. She wrote about her every day life in a cabin along a stream and in a deep woods. I read and 'drank-in-deeply' the images and the peace that she shared in her watching the world go quietly and slowly by. I still read parts of the book sometimes as the seasons turn and the time passes and I need to pause.
In the Christian world right now we are approaching the climax of the Lenten season. We will remember the Easter happening that is for Christians the turning moment.

But do we pause at all in our days to celebrate the ordinary beauty of the world around us? I listen to a small bird chirping outside the window right now. I hear this little chickadee and know how it looks and I stop writing to watch it flit from branch to branch.

There is part of me, probably growing out of being an only child, that enjoys quiet. And that quiet is what Annie Dillard writes about and invites us to join.
What do we do in the middle of our lives to breathe?

I invite you in these days, find a place of quiet. Breath and enjoy the world as it is this day.

God abide
Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2007