Birth is a beginning and death a destination;

But life is a journey.

A going, a growing from stage to stage:

From childhood to maturity and ignorance to knowing;

From foolishness to discretion and then perhaps, to wisdom.

From weakness or strength to weakness and often back again.

From offense to forgiveness, from loneliness to love,

From joy to gratitude, from pain to compassion.

From grief to understanding, from fear to faith

From 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;

But life is a journey, a sacred pilgrimage,

Made stage by stage…To life everlasting.