Nobody tells you when you get born here

How much you'll come to love it

And how you'll never belong here

So I call you my country

And I'll be lonely for my home

-Rich Mullins, Land of My Sojourn

Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people.

-Albert Einstein

The definition of “sojourn” is simple: to stay or dwell for a time.  Now, like many things sometimes the simple things are also the most beautiful and profound.

I first encountered the idea through the song quoted above by Rich Mullins.  Rich Mullins was a Christian songwriter who passed away in 1997, but his songs and music were very influential to me, my world view, and my faith.  Underlying his lyrics and melodies was a deep reverence and a simple poetry.  He often blended the common and everyday with a tangible holiness.  It is this union of the simple and spiritual that transcends religion and resounds deep within me.   We all find it when we have to stop because of a gorgeous sunset, we feel it when we see the spark in an infants eye.  It is the phenomenon of a green leaf taking on a hue of scarlet.  It is the freedom of flight.  It is compassion, humanity, laughter, and imagination.  Here’s the wonderful catch of it all, these things are only temporary, and can only be experienced when you are aware of your surroundings.

So here we are, with one life that will not be repeated.  The moments we have are precious and few.  In the grand scope of time, our journey is but an instant. We will only stay here for a brief time.   Life is a sojourn.

Yet, this is not to say we are always hustling and bustling.  A sojourn is not a pit stop, just to get back onto the race track screaming by at hundreds of miles per hour.  It is a time to pause, reflect, look around at our surroundings, and realize that there is another journey to be had.  To define it another way, as my father always likes to say: “No matter where you go, there you are.”  This is the perpetual but precious sojourn.

As we look around at our fellow travelers, we can feel a bond and as we unite and embrace the timeless unity we become sojourners.