“Women in Minneapolis wear sensible shoes” — somehow, this is a bad thing? Yet 30-plus years ago, with very few snow days under my boots, I hardly knew what was meant by “sensible” in the article I was proofreading.
Now, I still may not be fully acclimated to Minnesota but am 
better prepared for temperatures below freezing and wind chills dropping the “feel like” to 19 degrees: as evidenced by my sensible boots. Yes, Minnesota friends, I know that 19 degrees above zero is no big deal — but on April 14? The see-saw between winter snow flurries and spring sun showers confuses a body.
It all depends on which journey we are taking, of course, but we all need something for the trip, whether they be sensible shoes or a sense of purpose. One friend’s journey on this Earth stopped at 10 Monday night. His wife was with him, hand on his heart, hearing the final beat and then . . . silence. We don’t know what our final journeys will look like.
Still, wherever I go, I find a writer has been there before me, even in considering the passage from life into death. In Peace Like a River, Leif Enger paints a picture of heaven as a beautiful meadow where he meets his father and others. Louise Erdrich portrays the spirit of a troubled father seeking to drag a daughter into his grave during his three-day death journey in The Night Watchman. And there is the ancient prediction, attributed to St. Paul: “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.” (1 Corinthians 13:12, NIV)
This Biblical reference would not have been familiar to me before I began my journey as a Christian. The first steps culminated in my baptism on Easter Eve in April 1999. And I have been see-sawing along ever since, studying the Bible, yes, and learning what it means to be a follower of Jesus along a path made meandering by my own clumsy steps.
In 2020, we traveled through Holy Week and just finished with Lent on Sunday, April 12. As I moved onward from my baptism, we now commence this year’s Eastertide journey. If you missed the Easter service from the National Cathedral, you can watch it here. After all, each year, we begin again; each day, we begin again . . . until we come to the end of our journey.
Allison Campbell Jensen 