Me on the Appalachian Trail, @ 2015
I’ve had several friends walk the Camino de Santiago in the past year,
I’ve enjoyed following their journeys on social media, and everyone who made this pilgrimage had different goals and things they hoped to receive from it.
Other friends have through-hiked or are through-hiking the AT.
Different goals and different reasons for breaking away.
According to an online source, ‘pilgrimage’ is often used to describe an individual’s journey through life, sometimes as a general description of personal growth and exploration or sometimes, as in Christianity, outlining a particular spiritual focus or pathway which it is believed will lead to encounter with God.
The above paragraph is a direct quote from that source and not my own, but I think it captures the meaning of pilgrimage beautifully.
Truth be told, I have needed a pilgrimage for over 30 years.
When I suddenly lost my husband 31 years ago, my primary goal in life was to raise my two little boys into respectable, educated adults. I accomplished that goal–with more than a few hair-pulling moments–and I did it with joy. My boys and I had a good life.
But between child rearing, working, and all of our extra-curricular activities, I didn’t truly take the time to break away and allow God to speak to me through a pilgrimage.
Pilgrimage has called to me for years, and for the past decade, I’ve known a particular pilgrimage I want to make.
In 2013, my older son was stationed at Fort Benning (now Fort Moore), Georgia, and I was contemplating a move. My fiance and I were having issues, my dad was starting to have some health challenges, and I was burning out from my job as a development director for a museum, a job I loved, but one that was becoming harder to find joy in in the midst of my family and relational challenges. I was trying to be everything to everyone. Going through menopause was the icing on the cake to this vortex.
So, on one of my trips to visit my son and his family, I arranged to visit a nonprofit I’d read about in Columbus, Georgia, called Open Door Community House. My son, daughter-in-law, and I visited Open Door, and I just loved the executive director, whose heart was so clearly into the mission. I’ve always had a heart for the underserved, and I was so impressed with the work Open Door does… all wrapped in a cloak of God’s love.
I’ve often joked I would work there mopping floors, but given how much I “love” mopping, I’d likely be fired on Day One, LOL!
I didn’t move, but I served a few days at Open Door back in 2017 or 2018 and had planned to return in 2020, but we know how that year turned out…
The past few years have been a navigation of some family challenges, a navigation of some heart matters, and having to own that there are aspects of my work that I no longer enjoy.
So it’s time for a pilgrimage.
The last week of October, I’m heading back to Columbus to serve for the week. I’ll be leading Holy Yoga and Bible study, working with the children in the after-school program, leading self-care workshops for clients, providing life coaching, and assisting the development director with some planning. To say I am excited is an understatement.
This is a pilgrimage… and one greatly needed.
Family challenges, matters of the heart, aspects of my work that no longer bring me joy, and the current highly charged political climate have left me a bit… well, depleted in certain areas. It’s time for true change.
I’ve helped a lot of women makes changes in their lives, and now it’s time to make some in my own life.
So, yes, I NEED this pilgrimage.
I won’t be walking the Camino or hiking the AT, but I am staying in a budget motel and am so excited about working with people who have so little but want to move out of poverty and into a better life.
I pray I have an impact.
My late father ran a ministry for 20 years for our church that served the underserved in our county. As a former prisoner of war who knew starvation and poverty, my dad’s passion consumed him in his ministry. My late husband told me he’d never seen me as excited as I was when I was working with a group of single moms who lived in subsidized housing. When I was fundraising at the museum–responsible for most of the revenue except facility rentals– colleagues would comment on how I lit up creating funding to bring underserved children to the museum. I was determined to give those kids a true cultural experience.
And while I am praying to have an impact in the lives of those I’ll be serving in Columbus, I also am excited to see how I encounter God in this experience.
My little pilgrimage awaits, and I am thankful for the kind souls who have donated funds to make it possible. They know who they are, and I love them dearly.
I expect greater clarity from this trip. It’s my prayer… and I ask that you pray for me October 25-November 2.
I’m a pilgrim going to serve and hoping this leads to greater ways to serve.
Amy Walton loves encouraging the marginalized among us. Her mission statement in life is to encourage hope in others to the glory of God. Connect with her at amywaltoncoaching@gmail.com.