Birth is a beginning

and death a destination.

And life is a journey:

From Childhood to maturity

And youth to age;

From innocence to awareness

and ignorance to knowing;

From foolishness to discretion

And then, perhaps, to wisdom

From weakness-to strength

Or strength to weakness

And, often, back again;

From health to sickness

And back, we pray, to health again;

From offense to forgiveness,

From loneliness to love,

From joy to gratitude,

From pain to compassion

And grief to understanding-

From fear to faith;

From defeat to defeat to defeat-

Until- looking backward or ahead,

We see that victory lies

Not at some high place along the way,

But in having made the journey, stage by stage,

A sacred pilgrimage

Birth is a beginning

And death a destination

And life is a journey,

A sacred pilgrimage-

To life everlasting.