The light we have

Madeira Islands, Portugal

I feel lost. When I feel lost, I want nothing more than a map to guide me. I want a longitude and latitude to drive to, fly to, bike to, swim to. I don’t know how to get from here to there, and I’m not even sure where here or there are these days.

I see being lost as scary, but sometimes being a stranger is a doorway to liberty. Being lost is an invitation to explore and let go of what no longer serves me. I speak of being lost with fear and trembling -- moving forward into the unknown, even though I’m shaking. Embracing awe, possibility and imagination to create from the void. The Christian scriptures exhort seekers to come before God with fear and trembling, that is to say, with reverence and humility. Fear and trembling then, are the substance of pilgrimage. It is impossible without them.

So I unlearn what I know and make a new way. I embrace more mystery than certainty. I stay open to the surprise and wonder of the Divine in unexpected places. I accept that there is so little over which I have control, except what is in my own two hands. I journey with my eyes open. After all, all pilgrimage is, is an opening of eyes, paying attention and moving forward with the light we have.