We’ve left Peru and have been in Spain walking the Camino for almost 3 weeks.
Between the physical pain and exhaustion of walking 20-30k daily, this has been challenging in every way. While most days are beautiful they’re sometimes difficult. Some of the best memories on the Camino are spent passing through different towns, stopping for coffee with strangers become brothers and sisters on a pilgrimage hundreds of thousands have previously walked. But the truth is some moments were spent taking cover from the unexpected hail (thankfully while in town), treating the blisters on my feet and hoping my longest toe will stop repeatedly and abruptly encountering the front of my sneaker which has led to the fatality of a couple of toenails.
We’ve had the pleasure of enjoying wheat and yellow coleseed fields, rioja vineyards, both wine and water fountains, the smell of olive groves, but sometimes our walks were alongside underwhelming highways and plowed fields accompanied by the offensive aroma of manure. The parallels of this journey to that of my own spiritual walk with the Lord has been an such an incredible and tangible experience.
It was easy to start this with a destination to Leon being the goal but I quickly learned this journey is not a race. It’s the setting of a beautiful dialogue between the Lord and I … space and time for cultivating relationship with both Him and others. It’s about taking the time to engage in the sweet comradery of my fellow “pilgrims” from all around the world, hearing their stories over community dinner and our dishwashing assembly line. Its enjoying the beauty in the hospitality of the volunteers, and the priests and sisters, the sandstone and alabaster walls of the monastery or the unforgettable memory of surviving the night in the frigid cold temperatures and after discovering bites on my flesh the next morning in hopes that I didn’t take any bed bugs with me along the way. I can run through it at a pace fixed for the destination or I can choose to allow the lord to set the pace of this so that I don’t miss any opportunities he has already set before me.
There’s a saying Spaniards share as encouragement when we slowly enter towns at the end of the days walk.
“Poco a poco” which essentially means “A little bit at a time”
What incredibly underrated wisdom that is! Honestly though, what good would I really be to those around me if I’m so exhausted from the rush of the day that all I want to do is make it to the next albergue for MY shower, MY dinner and MY sleep? The same rings true at home. What good is my life if it’s not being utilized for that which I was created? To love the Lord with all my heart, mind and soul and then to love my neighbors as myself.
This time has prompted me to ask myself so many questions:
How am I choosing to live daily regardless of the circumstances surrounding me and who am I living for?
Where do my priorities lie?
Is what I’m doing only leaving time and energy for myself?
Am I being intentional and prioritizing making space for relationship with the Father and from that pouring into those he has placed around me?
This is not only applicable here but also in life back in North America…what good am I if my day at work consists of running myself to the point that afterwards all this time is necessary to rest and recharge? This can’t be something I’m doing just for these 11 months. This is a lifestyle being cultivated. It’s not waiting for the right circumstances, a church program or scheduled ministry…it’s my life. It’s choosing daily to be available for what the Lord has, allowing him to set the pace and partnering with him in it. And what a beautiful thing it is when I get to be a part of what he’s doing!!!
“How we live our days is how we live our lives” -Annie Dillard
Think for just a moment when Jesus encountered the woman at the well, the blind, deaf, the lame or even the dead. None of these things were done at a scheduled service or organized ministry times. He did these things ALONG THE WAY as did his disciples. Even before this season of recorded events, we know he lived about his father’s business. While these organized ministries are so valuable in the Kingdom, it doesn’t begin nor does it end there. This is how he lived daily and as a disciple, this is the way I am called to live whether in my hometown or halfway across the world. I’m learning the reality of “life is ministry and ministry is life.” What would we, the church, look like if we followed the simple blueprint that Jesus very clearly mapped out for us? A body of individuals who know the Father and His love for us, choose first to receive it along with our inheritance and as a result, place his will above our own. A church that chooses to follow Jesus daily by intentionally loving people and seizing every opportunity to invite people into the love of Christ as well as into our lives. A church who individually and collectively did ministry and life ALONG THE WAY!
But whoever keeps his word, in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him: whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked. 1 John 2:5-6
