Happy are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
✙ Ps 84:5 ✙
We usually think of the pilgrimage written and sung about in Psalm 84 as physical. But in the fifth verse I see that it is no less spiritual, for the roads I travel lie within me. I assume that only certain highways within my heart are highways to Zion, the others leading eventually to dead ends. But meditating on Romans 8:28,* I must remember that God's will for me—whatever that is—cannot be thwarted by my choices, good or bad.
The highways in my heart also remind me of a song that I've known (and have always related to) since I was a kid. It's from the first album I ever owned, American Pie:
You know I've heard about people like me,
but I never made the connection.
They walk one road to set them free
and find they've gone the wrong direction.
But there's no need for turning back
'cause all roads lead to where I stand,
and I believe I'll walk them all
no matter what I may have planned.
✙ Don McLean, Crossroads
You have given us a lodging in this world, O God, but not an abiding city. Help us, as a pilgrim people, to endure hardness, knowing that at the end of our journey a place has been prepared for us both by and with the One who went before us and who taught us to pray: Our Father...
*All things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.
