"Every long journey is made in small steps,
Is made of courage, the feeling you get
When you know it's been waiting, been waiting for you.
The journey's the only thing you want to do……..

~Ann Reed

I've been singing these words over and over in my head today. I know that it is partially because I am anticipating Ann Reed's concert at church tomorrow night.We are looking forward to her 'Songs of Hope' concert, an opportunity to bathe in words and music that will lift us above whatever is dragging us down.  I am singing them also, I think, because I am very aware of this journeying time we are in. The journey of winter to spring. The journey of Lent to Easter. The journey of darkness to light. So many journeys…..

Of course, we are all on journeys all the time. The journey of our day, our year, our life. We just rarely think of our living in quite this way. But when we really allow ourselves to be in the 'journeying mind' each day can be an adventure, a series of steps toward something more. Many people I know are on significant life journeys.They are dealing with illness, death, losses of many kinds, journeys they never intended to take. But life showed up and off they went, down the road. Still others are waiting for new babies, graduations, weddings, the joy and promise of birth. Perhaps more joyful journeys but filled with great change nonetheless. 

This journey becomes even a greater experience when we are awake and aware of those who travel by our side. Ann Reed's lyrics continue:" And we cannot know what you go through or see through your eyes but we will surround you with pride undisguised. In any direction, whatever you view,you're taking our love there with you."

Isn't that the blessing we all seek? To be understood for our unique experience and affirmed in it. No one can really know what our journey feels like, how the experience is for us. It is a great gift to be surrounded by people who are filled with pride at our triumphs and with compassion at our failures. It is a great gift to travel in the love of others.

Who are you surrounding with love this day? Perhaps it is a family member, a close friend or co-worker. But maybe, just maybe, it might be the overworked sales clerk, the harried teacher at your child's school, the bus driver. What might the world be like if we surrounded, not only those close to us, but those we simply encounter with the same compassion and love ? Like Tinkerbell sprinkling fairy dust, we have the opportunity to spread well wishes on the path of every fellow traveler we meet. I'd like that, wouldn't you?