There are many attributes that set the pilgrim apart from the tourist traveling abroad or the person simply going through the motions in everyday life.

One of the attributes that is essential to the posture and character of the pilgrim is intention—the purpose with which the pilgrim journeys and the deliberateness that accompanies each and every step.

That doesn’t mean the pilgrim knows where the journey is leading or is always confident of which step to take next. The pilgrim, after all, is a seeker, guided not by certainty but by sacred stirrings deep within and a faith that these longings are worthy of pursuit. In fact, psychologist David Benner defines faith as “a response to a call to a journey,” and a pilgrim, no doubt, is one who is called.

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One of the essential tools for the pilgrim as they seek to uncover their journey and determine which step to take next is the practice of following the thread.

The poet William Stafford explains this practice beautifully and hints at how intrinsic this process is to the journey in his poem, “The Way It Is.” “There is a thread you follow,” he writes. “It goes among things that change. But it doesn’t change…. While you hold it you can’t get lost. Nothing you can do can stop times unfolding. You don’t ever let go of the thread.”

This thread Stafford refers to is reminiscent of the thread in the Greek Myth of Ariadne, Thesseus, and the slaying of the Minotaur. In the story, Ariadne gives Thesseus a thread to lay on his way into the center of the labyrinth so that once he defeats the Minotaur he can easily find his way back.

Just like the thread given by Ariadne which guided her suitor to safety through dark, labyrinthine paths on his quest to slay the beast within, there is a Sacred Thread woven throughout our journeys to help us stay close to the Source and guide us along the path. This Sacred Thread can reveal to us the movement and invitations of the Divine in our journeys as we look back as well as help us to discern which steps to take and which direction to follow going forward. This is true for our pilgrimages abroad as well as our journeys in everyday life. I like to think of it as a golden thread that shimmers throughout our journeys with the evidence of Divine Presence.

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