Carried by a Greater Whole

A pilgrimage is, above all, an inner journey. You slow your pace, look around with gratitude, and keep your focus. For in the end there is really only one task: to follow the path. I walked alone, yet never felt lonely. With sturdy boots and an open heart, I stepped forward, open to surprise, to encounter, to grace.

I set down my pack and let time fall still. Before me lies the sea in an endless, shifting play of waves, forever arriving, forever retreating, ever new and yet always the same. The warmth of the sun, the murmur of the waves, the whisper of the wind… in this moment, here and now, all that is hurried and heavy falls away.

How wonderful to spend entire days feeling the sky above, the grass, the stones and the sand beneath me, tasting the salt of the sea. With gratitude and joy, I feel upheld by a greater whole, much like the sea carries me when I swim.