Effort and Faith

Faith is difficult. Why should it be true, in the face of so much contradictory evidence,  that an overarching good lies around and above us, and that the end of our earthly lives is far from the end of our spirit? Continuing to believe needs hard work and patience, often sustained by the mere bleakness of the compared alternative.
The world is distracting, the people around us offer little encouragement, and often offer vocal discouragement.
But on a pilgrimage we enjoy isolation (within gregarious group living with those sharing our mission), the sights of natural beauty, and the shared challenges of  cold wind, rain, sore feet. At the end of our trail - in my case, on the Northern Cross pilgrimage to Holy Island - we cross the icy  wet sands and emerge onto an island with a fairytale castle and a nestling little white village of pubs and churches.
Faith has never been easy. But the effort of pilgrimage, its simulacrum of the cycle of life and death, makes it a little more attainable.