Daily Dose (Nov 19 – 22)

TUESDAY NOV 19 —

Walking gives your mind time and space.
To wander and mull and ponder.
And evaluate, and then re-evaluate.
I’m walking, but gratefully my heart and spirit are “walking” too. That’s the gift of a pilgrimage. It invites (and allows) us to find or restore, or forgive or heal, or to forget or bury; or perhaps willingly, just to have the deck of our world shuffled.
Its wisdom calls me daily to pick up my pack, and march on. To trust, to find beauty, and to be vulnerable. To share pain, joy, and connection. To, with practice, patience (lots of patience), faith, and grace, continue walking.

So, this week, our Camino theme… sometimes we need a different way to measure what really matters.
I had a big smile today; on my phone, when I take a picture, there are now comments that pop up on the bottom. One is, “take better shot”. Apparently, my phone now tells me, “that’s not the shot you want.” What a metaphor for the way we frame life choices. This wasn’t the day (the shot) I had in mind. As I walked, I laughed and said out loud to the seagulls, “I really liked that shot.”
Can we embrace the gift of being present, regardless of “the shot”? Remembering Joseph Campbell’s reminder, “People say that what we’re all seeking is a meaning for life. I don’t think that’s what we’re really seeking. I think that what we’re seeking is an experience of being alive, so that our life experiences on the purely physical plane will have resonances with our own innermost being and reality, so that we actually feel the rapture of being alive.”

This I know, walking, one step at a time, I embrace the gift of being alive.
No, sometimes it is not even close to easy… but gratefully, that’s why there’s always another step to take.
And this, from Kathy Galloway, I’ve taken to heart. “Pilgrimage is… a sign of contradiction, and of resistance to our prevailing value system, that of the market. Pilgrimage, after all, has no function other than itself; its means is as important as its end, its process as its product. Its utility value is small, and its benefits cannot be quantified or costed. Its value is intrinsic. It is something that is good to do because it is good to do. It states clearly that the extravagant gesture (because it is extravagant in terms of time and commitment) is an irrepressible part of what it means to be human and to walk on the earth. And whether the context for pilgrimage is solitude or community, we will be drawn deeper into the mystery of God and the care of creation.”
Onward my friends…

WEDNESDAY NOV 20 —

I love stonework. And on a walk along the coast in northern Portugal, you see a lot of stonework. The kind that makes you stop and gaze.
As I walk this Camino, my father walks with me in memory. And I have snapshots of growing up as a stone mason’s tender, working with stone and bricks and mortar. It was not easy work, and in my mind, I had better things to do. As it is with so many things when we are young, not seeing them for what they are.
Along my walk, the stonework is exquisite. Walls, castles, houses. The craftsmanship and the care. And the stories, dating back centuries. And yes, I’m guessing, with fathers and sons.
I walk today in Viana do Castelo, next to the Atlantic Ocean at the mouth of Lima River, a city founded in 1258. The stone wall of Viana do Castelo was completed in 1374.

It brings to mind a Robert Frost memory, as he was inspired by a rough and tumble stone wall on his farm in Derry, New Hampshire, and his poem “Mending Wall” became a classic, “Something there is that doesn’t love a wall…”

I don’t know where I was going with this Sabbath Moment. Oh yes, I love stonework. Actually, what I love, I realized, is being sidetracked. You know, gratefully diverted, entertained, invited, attracted, tickled, re-channeled.
It’s been one of my favorite parts of walking the Camino. The surprises. The little gifts. Yes, the sacrament of the present.
There is no need to be focused past where I am right now.

Which is good for our theme this week: a different way to measure.
Lynne Twist talks about visiting a potter in Mexico. She admired the pottery, and commented on its beauty. She noticed that the potter had many pots and asked, “How many pots have you made?” The potter was surprised by the question. “Here,” he answered, “we don’t count such things.” (From, The Soul of Money)

Our Camino quote, “Pilgrimage is a symbol of life. It makes us think of life as walking, as a path.” Pope Francis

THURSDAY NOV 21 —

I’m enjoying lunch in a tiny café in a Portuguese village, northeast of Caminha. Across the river is Spain. In the café, there is no English or Spanish spoken, so it is gather and absorb by experience. Point and listen and discover.
Tonight, I’m staying in a guesthouse, very popular for Camino walkers, and smiling big because it’s my first guesthouse since 1973, when I was in University in London, and spent time hiking the British Isles. So, yes, in so many ways, the kid in me, coming to life.

In the many writings, there is a curiosity about the kind of people who walk Caminos. I saw one comment from someone, assuming the Camino wasn’t for them, because it was only for the religious, the devout and the spiritual. I confessed that I laughed out loud, as I do whenever I see the word spiritual used as a qualifier. As if it is some way of keeping score.
One of my favorite lessons on this Camino walk, “There is no keeping score.” There is only this step to savor. And there is only the next step to take.
And I loved reading the reference to a manuscript at the monastery in Roncesvalles, called the “The Precious One”, with this poem (translated):
“The door is open to all
To the sick and the healthy
Not only to Catholics
But also to pagans.”

Open to all. Amen. Now we’re talking. As it should be with anything that invites us—as ordinary people (carrying our own weight)—to step up. To walk.
And yes, to care. To give. To sacrifice. To honor our responsibility to our human family. To honor a different way to measure.

I know that I preordain, when I hope or try to orchestrate, rather than just experience. I also know that whether it is experience or relationship or liturgy or prayer or meditation… or Camino walk, if you don’t bring it with you, you’re not going to find it there.
Today, I am grateful. And I can see how gratitude is the instrument allowing us to participate in hope. And we bring gratitude to this present moment.
So, yes. Sometimes we do need a different way to measure.
When we take this to heart, the story doesn’t just end there. It emanates. Gratitude always spills. And with it, hope. What a gift.

Our Camino quote for today…
“Authenticity is a collection of choices that we have to make every day. It’s about the choice to show up and be real. The choice to be honest. The choice to let our true selves be seen.” Brene Brown (The Gifts of Imperfection)

FRIDAY NOV 22 —

This morning I crossed into Spain. The border is the river Miño, which is what naturally separates Portugal and Spain. Typically, there is a ferry that runs often, however, at this time of year, there is only one option; a single very early morning boat. And because of the time of year, and the choppiness of the water, it was not the regular ferry, but a handsome little fishing boat, our “driver” a local fisherman straight out of central casting. There were five Camino walkers onboard, from four different countries, all decked in full rain gear.
Yes, my first day on the Camino in Spain, a very cloudy, chilly and rainy day.
In other words, Seattle weather. Which means a good day to walk a modest distance, and then find a welcoming pub in one of the villages, and rest and journal for a spell.

While drying off, I did some reading.
About the very famous shell.
The scallop shell is familiar to most, even to those who have never walked the Camino. But I never really knew the story.
Its origin is linked to the Camino de Santiago since medieval times. Legend is that the early pilgrims would travel from their home to Santiago and then onwards to Finisterre (all the way to the Atlantic Ocean). Once they reached Finisterre, they would collect a scallop shell as proof they had walked the Camino de Santiago. Upon their return home, they would produce the shell to receive absolution of their sins from their priest. (I do seriously hope that the priest let them keep the shell.)
I love the stories about many medieval pilgrims who would use the scallop shell as a bowl for any of the food, wine, and water offered to them along their way. Now we’re talking.
Of course, it is not surprising, as with any story, that merchandising begins to have a significant sway. As early as the 13th century, there was a significant number of merchants selling scallop shells. And yes, many were “merchants” with parenthesis, as swindlers sadly tend to find their way into most stories, especially where the heart may be accessible and vulnerable.
Along the journey now (whichever Camino you may walk), every marker displays the shell. So, if you have any doubt where you are, follow the shell, as it is always pointing towards Santiago de Compostela.
I loved also reading that many enjoy looking at the lines on a scallop shell, and see them as a reflection of the Camino, in other words, there is not just one path, but many ways leading us to Santiago.

Thank you for your notes and your prayers. Onward together my friends.

And while reading today, I found comfort in this old poem from Edgar Albert Guest. It did my heart good. It’s a good Camino prayer. I’ll carry it with me today…
“Be grateful for the kindly friends that walk along your way,
Be grateful for the skies of blue that smile from day to day,
Be grateful for the health you own, the work you find to do,
For round about you there are those less fortunate than you.
Be grateful for the growing trees, the roses soon to bloom,
The tenderness of kindly hearts that shared your days of gloom,
Be grateful for the morning dew, the grass beneath your feet,
The soft caresses of your babes and all their laughter sweet.
Acquire the grateful habit, learn to see how blessed you are,
How much there is to gladden life, how little life to mar!
And what if rain shall fall to-day and you with grief are sad,
Be grateful that you can recall the joys that you have had.”

Prayer for our week…
A Camino prayer
May I walk this day
in the realm of grace,
walking with You
my feet firmly on your earth-path,
my heart loving all as kindred,
my words and deeds alive with justice.
May I walk as blessing,
meeting blessing at every turn
in every challenge, blessing,
in all opposition, blessing,
in harm’s way, blessing.
May I walk each step in this moment of grace,
alert to hear You
and awake enough to say
a simple Yes.
Robert Corin Morris

Photo… “Terry, May you find healing and inspiration on your Camino! Blessings,” Madeleine Gallagher (Tacoma, WA)…  Thank you Madeleine… I’m so grateful for your photos, please send them to [email protected]