Pass me by O Gentle Wanderer, Let me see your back to me
Lead us, I following, to the clearing yonder From this place long we have shared To that height I cannot see But some sight tells me waits
O Stranger, lead me And, there, we two will rest again, I lying in love beside you And remembering the steps that led us on Each one a piece of somewhere undiscovered While in all other places it calls us to itself Like a voice through the still dark Or a long-lost friend, forgotten
And with no light, reason and faith guides Us to another site, and after a time, O Stranger, yourself moving before, Your moving leads Elsewhere until the Voice is heard no more
And we are found together In love and bliss, one, at last, Where this Journey began
*brian k. wilcox, Thursday, March 18, 2004
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The Jewish Scriptures tell of Yah, the god of the Hebrew tribes, calling Abram to leave all familiar to fulfill a destiny given him:
Now Adonai said to Avram [later, Abraham], "Get yourself out of your country, away from your kinsmen and away from your father's house, and go to the land that I will show you. ... [Y]ou are to be a blessing. (Genesis 12.1-2, CJB).
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We, like Abram, are here to be breathing, walking, talking, and loving blessing. Our very presence is to enlighten and bring comfort.
The deeds we do are to communicate Yah. A fitting prayer would be, "O Thou, be Thyself through me." Our touching another can be the Beloved touching, our smile, the Friend's smile. God can look through our eyes, love through our loving. Speaking from the heart means Spirit speaking, our words the Word. Are we aware?
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For Abram to be the blessing, he sets out on pilgrimage to where "I will show you." He does not receive advance directions. Yah does not tell him all about his destination. Likewise, for us to be the blessing we need to be, we take pilgrimage. This relocation is within. Yet, it may be outside, too, from where we live to another place to live. It may entail many outer changes: job, career, relationship ...
We, like Abram, may sense an inner summons to set out, not knowing where we are going. I did this in 1995, resigning from a professorship, not knowing where I would live or work next. I finished a final year of teaching. Then, I began working at a plant nursery part-time. I went from teaching to weeding and watering. Soon, I sold my home and moved into a little town to become pastor of a group of three small churches and attended medical school nearby. The pilgrimage continued and has since.
This same teaching appears in the Christian Gospels, where Jesus calls his close disciples, saying, "Follow ..." (Gospel of Matthew 4.19 etc.). He, like Yah, does not give a travelogue or map. We, disciples of the Light, are to follow likewise. Thankfully, however, we have an inner Light and outer lights - those gifted to give guidance - to share much-needed wisdom. We do not go alone.
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Living wholeheartedly, each step is a sacred step. Initially, we may be inspired by and focus on a destination - heaven, nirvana ... In time, we become one with the walk, so we do not focus on a destination but on the walk itself. We become the walk, the walk us. Our devotion is this wholeheartedness.
*Use of photography is allowed accompanied by credit given to Brian K. Wilcox and title and place of photographs.
*Brian's book, An Ache for Union: Poems on Oneness with God through Love, can be ordered through major online booksellers or the publisher AuthorHouse.
