Pilgrim Intentions

When I chose to do the Camino Frances I was making a conscious decision to give distance to my normal routines and everyday life as a retiree in suburban America. Sounds rough, right?

I am aware that much of what fills the time, thoughts, and habits of my normal life isn’t greatly focused on stuff of the soul, spirit, and heart. It is filled with life maintenance and entrenched routines largely structured to enhance personal comfort and avoid difficulty.

The beauty of a pilgrimage is that it is a purposeful and intentional self-imposed time out from most of that – it is a radical pause button for the cluttered effects of superficial living. It is getting away from the comforts and safety of routine. It is taking on the risk and unknowing of being immersed in a totally alien environment. It is cutting ties, temporarily, with things such as convenience, preferences, and homely comforts.

It is assuming a new temporary identity – as a pilgrim – with life stripped down to the bare essentials: eating, walking, laundry, socializing, internal work (prayer, reflection, and contemplation), and sleep. Day in and day out, for 40 days straight.

My intentions going into this journey were as follows:

1. Be totally open each day to whatever, however, whenever God’s will for me will unfold. With zero expectations as to what that may look like. For this immensely important and essential spiritual pilgrimage wisdom, I owe huge heartfelt thanks to two people: author and pilgrim Joyce Rupp and her excellent book of reflections on her Camino, “Walk in a Relaxed Manner,” and to repeat pilgrim and real life super-hero Marianne Trice for kindly challenging me to have zero expectations for what this internal journey would entail.
2. Praying and meditating on Philippians 4:4-9. This small bit of scripture is a laser-focused truth bomb about the relationship between what we think and how we experience the peace of God.
3. Praying through a huge stack of deferred, unprayed prayers.
4. Examining a variety of questions about what’s next in my life.

Pilgrim Lessons

While I was able to attend to my pilgrimage intentions in deep and substantial ways, the Camino had so much more to give and to impart to me, broadly including:

1. Experiencing why people matter. I experienced great encouragement, kindness, generosity, lessons, opportunities for me to serve, and examples of how to live well and better — through interacting with a wide range of pilgrims and those who serve the pilgrim community. The common denominators of these folks were: a) they were on or along the Camino; and b) I bumped into them through divinely orchestrated encounters. I’ve written about some of these folks in previous entries in this series. They include, for example:
   • The Australian who selflessly offered me cash when I was down to my last Euros and had no access to an ATM.
   • The Taiwanese who shared the trail and encouragement– drawing me out of my spiritual shell and who unknowingly gave me a chance to help build up the faith of a newer believer.
   • The young Brit and American who separately gave me renewed hope for the younger generation.
   • The powerful businessman who, by having an accident, gave me the opportunity to exercise and grow in empathy and compassion.
   • The alberque owner who dropped everything to drive me to a pharmacy when I desperately needed medicine.
   • The Swede who played piano and gave me the chance to join in and impart the gift of musical collaboration.
   • Another Aussie who showed me what humility, compassion, and empathy really look like.
   • The German who told me to stop and listen to nature instead of the sound of my shoes and hiking sticks.
   • The Korean who bravely shared the trail with me and who overcame huge cultural and language barriers so we could simply share life and our stories.
   • These and so many others who taught and modeled and encouraged me to swim in the deeply spiritual waters of kindness, generosity, empathy, selflessness, friendship, vulnerability, hopefulness, and faith. This imparted to me:
     • a greater love for others
     • improved others-focus and less self-focus
     • reminders of how much better it is to walk with others than to walk alone
     • grace for me to learn to ask others, “Are you okay?”
2. Getting reacquainted with creativity as a divine gift and vital force in my life. This included:
   • Deeply affecting encounters with playing and hearing music, which restored resonant joy and confidence as a musician and music lover.
   • Rediscovering how much I love to write and how soul-satisfying this craft is to me.
3. Improving my relationship with my body:
   • I learned that I am stronger than I think.
   • I grew in being more present and engaged – and less lost in my own head – when I don’t feel physically well. Having a hard cough through much of the Camino gave me plenty of reminders and practice.
   • I learned and better appreciated “physical” things that are vital to well-being: rest, hydration, listening to my body, self-care, stretching, food, appreciating my limitations, etc.

These are the small seeds of learning. They require time, feeding, and care in order to bear good fruit in the future of my non-walking Camino.

You see, I believe that we are all essentially pilgrims, moving along on our own unique paths. I did the walking Camino so I can better live away from the formal path with two reminders: “Ultreia et Suseia.”

Forward and upward.