How does one mark the land?

Eight Spring Seasons ago I was walking on a path in Arizona with my family when I came across this marker.  It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes from the Bible:

And thine ear shall hear a word behind thee, saying, This is the way, walk ye in it, when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left. -- Isaiah 30:21

My teacher always said "Our yearning for growth in grace takes precedence... We strive more for spiritual understanding than for physical ease, more for the substance of Spirit than for money.. more for opportunities to comfort and heal others rather than for position or power."

Constantly striving for growth in grace is like 'staying on the trail'.  At the time I came across this marker I was in a wilderness in my own experience.  I treasured the Psalm "In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire." (Psalms 105:39).  I took pictures of things that reminded me of markers along the path I was seeing.

My dad always talked about the land within being a condition of peace and freedom.  This "Promised Land" is something one has by divine right, no matter what is going on or where one is physically located.  He spoke of the mission of awakening oneself and helping others do the same.

My mom spoke of this land like a "pearl of great price", sharing Jesus' words: "..the kingdom of heaven is like unto a merchant man, seeking goodly pearls: Who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had, and bought it." (Matthew 13:45-46)

Eight Autumns after a major healing and Class Instruction with a teacher, I found myself putting everything in storage and moving into a stable.  Eight Autumns after moving into the stable I found myself moving out of the camper that I had been living from for 40 months.*

It's not about me.  But it's been said that a writer should write about what he knows.  I know myself.  I see everyone as a new land, and when I am with someone I treat the soil of their unique expression of Soul as holy and sacred ground.  I take off my shoes and we walk together, sharing the culture of our experience with wonder and awe and a sense of discovery.  Every individual is like a National Park.  We try not to pollute it with what we leave behind and we seek to honor the paths that we are welcomed to walk.  In this way of 'staying on the trail', we are the parks we explore and the land that is preserved and shared.