The following is from one of the Cadfael Chronicles by Ellis Peters, specifically The Heretic's Apprentice. Brother Cadfael is conversing with a man called Elave, who in the year 1143 has just returned from a long journey to the Holy Land.

" 'Along the way a man lives a day at a time, and looks no further
ahead than the next day, and no further behind than the day just
passed. Now I see it whole, and it is wonderful.'

'But not all good", said Cadfael. "That couldn't be, we couldn't
ask it. Remember the cold and the rain and the hunger at times, and
losses by thieves now and then, and a few knocks from those who pray
on travellers - oh, never tell me you met none! And the weariness
and the times when you fell ill, the bad food, the sour water, the
stones of the road. You've met all that. Every man who travels that
far across the world has met it all.'

'I do remember all that, but it is still wonderful.'

'Good! So it should be,' said Cadfael."

The Cadfael Books are wonderful mysteries and several have been made for TV with Derek Jacoby as Cadfael. I recommend both books and show.

Love

Mary