Several years ago I participated in a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In Jordan, I visited the city of Petra. I had the opportunity to walk alongside our guide, a Bedouin nomad. During our time together I asked him if he had a certain approach to or strategy for walking in the desert. He did not immediately reply. Instead he stopped, picked up a stone and hurled it several yards ahead of us. He began to walk again and motioned for me to accompany him. When we reached the spot where the stone landed, he picked it up and hurled it once more. He smiled and said, ‘I walk in the desert from stone to stone.’

  

That evening as I read El Aposento Alto, the Spanish language edition of The Upper Room, I understood the guide’s message in a new way. Life is lived in stages. It is a journey of diverse experiences: trials, disappointments, achievements and so on. By asking God to walk with us, we can face life’s most challenging experiences and live one ‘stone’ at  a time.

Prayer: Thank you, dear God, for walking beside us every day. You are our guide, in good times and in bad times. Amen