We begin our journey - our pilgrimage and, although we don't know exactly where it will take us, we know we are leaving a place of brokenness (see yesterday's post on Psalm 120). Our first thought: everything is going to work out just right because that is what happens when we do the right things. Our perfectionistic tendencies come out and we see a world full of opportunities for us to succeed and forget that we are still fumbling and flawed.

What we don't expect is to stumble right out of the gate. Have you ever experienced failure? Missteps, as you journey with Jesus? We can think we have it all together, we can even portray it to everyone around us - have the walk and talk, the stroll and still make mistakes from the get go. Even with the right direction, the wrong decisions can lead us off course and leave us lost.

As we pilgrimage through the Ascent Psalms, Psalm 121 stands out as both a reminder of our imperfection and mistaken perspectives as well as an encouragement that even in our missteps, God, our Father in Heaven has us in his will and caring embrace.

As the pilgrim begins his journey singing:

I lift my eyes to the hills -
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip -
he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed he who watches over Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.

The Lord watches over you -
the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day,
nor the moon by night.

The Lord will keep yo from all harm -
he will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going
both now and forevermore.

The first steps our fellow pilgrim makes take his eyes off the path and into the hills. He looks for help in his concern, he looks away from where he is going, he redirects his vision. Have you ever looked to someone or something else to carry you on your life journey rather than looking to God? Has something else ever taken his place when we get concerned about next steps?

I've been there. I've been in places and spaces when my dependency has not been in God but on my own strength, my own power and skill. I've looked for helps and security that take my eyes and my heart from the places and spaces God hand has directed me. The pilgrim looks to the hills, the high places where people, the people he lived with, lived near and did business with, perhaps even he served and sacrificed to idols - the false gods of his time. He looks up to the hills - the places and spaces far from the God of creation, the true and living God that journeys with him, with us. He looks to those places and spaces that would have normally brought temporary comfort - but no results, this is where he used to look for help.

A kindly voice echoes the real helpers name on the pilgrims journey to worship and fellowship, we look to God - the God of heaven and earth. We look to God who is above all else, higher than the highest hill, beyond the idols and deceptive things of this world. The one is designed and created, the maker of this place and all space.

My help, your help does not come from our past but from our future in God's company. Our support and encouragement comes from the love and grace found in the one who can heal and restore and bring eternity near. Our fractured and broken lives and pathways are made right and cared for by the compassionate and fervent Father of all.

It is he who will watch over your steps in this treacherous journey. Even as you sleep he is watching over you, even as I toss and turn in my fragile shell, he does not dose off. He is attentive to my needs and to yours.

He overshadows you with his care and love, filling the hard places with his grace that we can journey beside him through the difficult days of the journey. Even as the sun breaks through the clouds and the cool of the night wrestles with our mortal bones, God's mercy protects us in our fragility.

He knows our needs as he watches us come and go, as he watches with joy as we live our lives in honour to him. The Lord, our Father in heaven does not take vacation or rest, he does not give up and leave us to our moments of weakness to be ravaged by our pain. He lives in the journey with us, walking beside us and resting with you and I.

And he does it forever. He has no end and neither does his love, his grace or his mercy.

The journey is hard and we makes mistakes, we get it wrong...and it's okay, because he is here right beside us to turn our gaze to what is eternal - what is true. Himself. Our Father in heaven. Our Abba.