Day 32
I lift up my eyes to the hills— 

from where will my help come? 

My help comes from the Lord, 

who made heaven and earth. 

He will not let your foot be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber. 

He who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep. 

The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade at your right hand. 

The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. 

The Lord will keep you from all evil; he will keep your life. 

The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time on and for evermore. 

Psalm 121 

This Psalm is known to be a traveling Psalm. It was said as pilgrims set out on a journey. Which is why I’m sure Jim’s father’s family always said it before they began a trip. And before our family set out for trip Jim would have us say this Psalm as well. For my family it was to say the 23rd Psalm or the Shepherd’s Psalm. It was a nice tradition. And meaningful. And since I’m so late in my daily posts and this weekend is Father’s Day in the USA I deduytgis post to those two men. 

The psalmist asks and answers his own question “where does my help come?” “My help comes from the Lord who is the creator!” The psalmist looks up from where he is traveling and knows that the creator of all that there is, is with him and consequently encourages other pilgrims to trust Gods’s presence and goodness, and providence…always. 

Whether looking up to the mountains or down in the valleys the God of grace and love is present walking beside you and me each and every day. 🙂 it’s just as complicated and as simple as that. 

Buen Camino 

Day 31

“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places, but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps greater.” Haldir- Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien) 
The world is full of peril. 
The world is full of grief.
Pero….there is much that is fair and love grows greater. 

We see this in so many different ways when light shines through the darkness. When goodness is stronger than evil. When love overcomes hate. 

None of these are easy or necessarily come without effort but when we witness them they are beautiful, bringing joy to those around. 

“The world is full of peril, and there are many dark places…” but Tolkien encourages us to focus on the good, to lean into it, to love into it. He tells us that “even though love is mingled with grief” love grows stronger.

This is perhaps the greatest news, the greatest hope we have. 

Buen Camino 

Day 30
“I have heard your prayers, I have seen your tears. Behold I will heal you.” 2 Kings 20:5 

It seems to me that there is a lot of healing that takes place on the Camino. Oh to be sure there’s a lot of pain too. There are blisters, and sunburn, tendinitis and knee pain, sore muscles and back aches to name a few. There is also the pain of saying goodbye to new friends made but with the hope of staying in touch. 

But there is a lot of healing that takes place in the midst of the pain. People find hope in the midst of hopelessness. People find friendship where they had known loneliness. People find love where they had known hurt. 

There is a lot of grace that happens because when people hurt they reach out to others in their pain and help others. It’s what Henri Nouwen described as The Wounded Healer. With words such as “Compassion is born when we discover in the center of our own existence not only that God is God and man is man, but also that our neighbor is really our fellow man.” People on the Camino don’t necessarily know this but they act this out. 

Also i believe that healing takes place also in this way, “experience tells us that we can only love because we are born out of love, that we can only give because our life is a gift, and that we can only make others free because we are set free by Him whose heart is greater than ours. When we haven’t seen him yet you found the anchor places for our lives in our own center, we can be free to let others enter into the space created for them and allow them to dance their own dance, sing their own song and speak their own language without fear.” This is a grace and and a healing that is so needed in life not just on the Camino. 

On the Camino you begin to let others in and you help and heal. You laugh, you cry, you begin the process of healing…it would be wonderful if we would do this more in day to day life…take care of each other more…

Buen Camino 

Day 30
“I have heard your prayers, I have seen your tears. Behold I will heal you.” 2 Kings 20:5 

It seems to me that there is a lot of healing that takes place on the Camino. Oh to be sure there’s a lot of pain too. There are blisters, and sunburn, tendinitis and knee pain, sore muscles and back aches to name a few. There is also the pain of saying goodbye to new friends made but with the hope of staying in touch. 

But there is a lot of healing that takes place in the midst of the pain. People find hope in the midst of hopelessness. People find friendship where they had known loneliness. People find love where they had known hurt. 

There is a lot of grace that happens because when people hurt they reach out to others in their pain and help others. It’s what Henri Nouwen described as The Wounded Healer. With words such as “Compassion is born when we discover in the center of our own existence not only that God is God and man is man, but also that our neighbor is really our fellow man.” People on the Camino don’t necessarily know this but they act this out. 

Also i believe that healing takes place also in this way, “experience tells us that we can only love because we are born out of love, that we can only give because our life is a gift, and that we can only make others free because we are set free by Him whose heart is greater than ours. When we have found the anchor places for our lives in our own center, we can be free to let others enter into the space created for them and allow them to dance their own dance, sing their own song and speak their own language without fear.” This is a grace and and a healing that is so needed in life not just on the Camino. 

On the Camino you begin to let others in and you help and heal. You laugh, you cry, you begin the process of healing…it would be wonderful if we would do this more in day to day life…take care of each other more…

Buen Camino