Day 56
“Keep on Believing, God will answer your prayers” MaryLee Schultz 

As many of you who are following my blog know I gathered inspirational quotes, songs, sayings before leaving for my camino and trip. I wanted to use these as a springboard for my blog. Many people contributed and I am grateful. 

Today’s quote comes from a dear friend and a church member. They have said it in their family for years, during tough times, illness, grief, pain, difficult decisions. Their faith encourages them and enables them to say with confidence: “Keep on Believing, God will answer your prayers”. 

There are times that I have encountered people and the conversation has inevitably moved to God and my faith. And the person will finally say “oh I wish I could believe that.” Honest confession: the struggle for me with prayer is that it is a conversation…it is not just a list, a wish list of things I want from the divine but a listening as well from the divine for me…and as humans we are very good at talking but terrible at listening especially when it comes to a relationship with the divine. If we are ever to truly “Keep on Believing, God will answer our prayers” we have to walk the long road of faith, and engage in the conversation and that means listening more and more and more, and then I truly believe we won’t be disappointed. 

Buen Camino 

Day 55
“What would you think if I sang out of tune Would you stand up and walk out on me? Lend me your ears and I’ll sing you a song And I’ll try not to sing out of key

Oh I get by with a little help from my friends 

Mm I get high with a little help from my friends 

Mm gonna try with a little help from my friends. 

What do I do when my love is away?

(Does it worry you to be alone?)

How do I feel by the end of the day?

(Are you sad because you’re on your own?)
No I get by with a little help from my friends

Mm I get high with a little help from my friends

Mm gonna try with a little help from my friends.” 

I Get By With A Little Help from My Friends— Beatles 

​

These well known lyrics from the Beatles are a great reminder to all of us that community is important. They are an important reminder that living life in isolation leads to not just loneliness but a drudgery and reclusiveness if we aren’t careful. 
I believe we were created to live in community; to help and care for each other. When the Beatles sing “I get by with a little help from my friends” they are echoing an ancient tradition of “love your neighbor as you love yourself”. Or this from Saint Augustine, “Since you cannot do good to all, you are to pay special attention to those who, by the accidents of time, or place, or circumstances, are brought into closer connection with you.”

I know I can’t get by without my friends, this includes people from far away and near, young and old, male and female. I rely on them for all sorts of things and am rarely disappointed. 

But I wonder with the richness of friendship that I have, can I begin to think of others who do not have what the Beatles expressed in this song? Can I begin to extend love and grace so that it can grow more and more? So that others can sing, “I get by with a little help from my friends…” 
I think we all can. 

Buen Camino 

Day 54
“The earth says so much to those who listen.” 

Anonymous 

 

Gosh. There is not much to say here…we listen so little to Mother Nature, to Mother Earth. We do a lot of damage to her and think little of it. 

It’s like a child who takes so much from a parent and when the parent is hurting turns their back and acts like the parent should be doing more. 

“The earth says so much to those who listen.” 

Anonymous 

Listen more. Listen harder. And act!! Both to take care of yourself and also to take care of this earth who takes care of you. 
Buen camino!

Day 53
“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.” Lao-Tzu 

I remember the times as a child I was given a seed and a Dixie cup with dirt and directions to plant the seed, water it and then watch it grow. It was slow. But then all of a sudden the tiniest of green sprouts would poke through the brown dirt. 

In the same vein but even much slower when you look at the mountains and the shape of them and the valleys below and the rivers and streams running through them and stop to think of the time that it took create such wonders…you begin to realize this concept more fully…

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”
So here I am writing once more about patience and rest or at least releasing a bit of control…it is not easy…to rest, to have patience… certainty not to release control…but we all have to do it from time to time…even the most powerful. What can we learn from nature? What can we learn from the camino? What lessons are there to impart wisdom to us?

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”

This happens with both emotional and physical healing. It happens with getting in shape. It happens with learning something new whether a subject or a trade or language. Oh to be sure some things come “naturally” to some people but for the most part it takes discipline like that of water over rock or a seed falling to the ground and sprouting into a mighty oak hundreds of years later. 

“Nature does not hurry, yet everything is accomplished.”
Perhaps we all can me more patient with each other and the person we call self. 🙂
Buen camino