I had breakfast with daughter Gabrielle earlier this week. We were talking about our knees and the pain that we have experienced in them. I told her about my going to the doctor a little over a year ago because my knee hurt every morning when I walked. The doctor gave me some exercises to do which I started (and am still doing). I proudly reported that I've had a few brief pains, but pretty much nothing that is a concern.
So much for pride --that evening I experienced terrible pain in my right knee, the kind that made it feel like my leg was going to buckle under me. Since I'm about 2 months from the Camino, this was a concern! What's going on? Luckily, my knee healed considerably during my sleep that night and I took it easy on my walk the next morning with the pain disappearing completely.
But the whole thing made me think of the story in Luke 12:16-21 that tells of the rich man who decides to build bigger storehouses for his great harvest, only to die that night. I may think I am ready to walk the Camino, but things change quickly, and a knee in pain, an injury, an illness... many things could end the pilgrimage for me. The only thing certain is how I live my life in the present.
I was reflecting on this scripture as it also concerns where I am in my life right now. At age 60 I find myself looking much more carefully at preparations for retirement, have we put enough in our pensions and IRAs? Are we going to be okay with health insurance? Do we need long term insurance? Are our wills in order? We can't prepare for every surprise that might be ahead in life, but there certainly are preparations that we can make. But can we make them without building bigger storehouses?
I have a vision of our living very simply in retirement one day. The best way to practice that is to live simply right now and packing for the Camino has been helping me to look at just few "things" one needs. Rather than building bigger storehouses hopefully Richard and I learning to live "smaller" and to be in a position to practice generosity throughout our lives along with taking care of our basic needs. I'll be thinking about this more as I walk the Camino. May you find God's abundance is already with you.
Saturday, June 25, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
Walking, Walking, Walking
Walked for 1-1/2 hours today on the treadmill - 5.59 miles. It was such a gorgeous day I would have loved to have walked outside, but my pace slows considerably, so I save outdoor walking for once a week.
It has been an interesting process working up to this. I started walking to the park once a week back in the summer of 2009. I remember being really happy working up from a 5 mile trip to 7 miles. Last Friday I walked around the park a couple of times and clocked a total of 11.5 miles. I'd like to get to at least 15 miles in one day before I leave.
The treadmill allows me to have a more "aerobic" workout which I believe is helping with my stamina. I remember the winter I first started, I was increasing time, increasing speed, and not enjoying the walking much at all. I decided to slow down and give myself some space. A number of months later I found that I was able to walk at faster speeds without a problem. I'm finally learning that I don't really have too push myself too very hard - but rather just keep faithful at walking. Ahhh, now there's a lesson I can apply to many aspects of my life! May you stay faithful to those things that give you life.
It has been an interesting process working up to this. I started walking to the park once a week back in the summer of 2009. I remember being really happy working up from a 5 mile trip to 7 miles. Last Friday I walked around the park a couple of times and clocked a total of 11.5 miles. I'd like to get to at least 15 miles in one day before I leave.
The treadmill allows me to have a more "aerobic" workout which I believe is helping with my stamina. I remember the winter I first started, I was increasing time, increasing speed, and not enjoying the walking much at all. I decided to slow down and give myself some space. A number of months later I found that I was able to walk at faster speeds without a problem. I'm finally learning that I don't really have too push myself too very hard - but rather just keep faithful at walking. Ahhh, now there's a lesson I can apply to many aspects of my life! May you stay faithful to those things that give you life.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
Why a pilgrimage?
"And the world cannot be discovered by a journey of miles, no matter how long, but only by a spiritual journey, a journey of one inch, very arduous and humbling and joyful, by which we arrive at the ground at our feet, and learn to be at home." Wendell Berry (quoted at the beginning of Pilgrim Heart by Sarah York)
Each time I prepare to the begin walking a labyrinth I have to pause. When I first started walking labyrinths I would be hit by anxiety: "Do I really have time to make this walk?" Over the years I have learned that I do have time, but still, I have that fleeting moment of anxiety. I certainly expect to have that anxiety rise at times over this summer: "What am I doing? Do I really have six weeks to just walk along this Camino?" And when I experience that anxiety I will remind myself that yes, I do have time for this spiritual journey, one which will no doubt be humbling at times, and hopefully will be joyful at others, and by the end, I hope I will better know how to be at home.
I will have to leave behind many, many of the things that give me comfort: my husband Richard, grandchildren and all the rest of my family, my church, my home, car, routine, work. I think that is part of the work of pilgrimage - at least I'm seeing that in the pilgrimage of the Camino de Santiago. Backpacking is not something with which I have much experience. I'm wondering how I'll do as I try to find the refugio where I'll spend the night though I will be extremely tired, dealing with sore feet, and very limited Spanish. Making a pilgrimage will require me to rely heavily upon God and no doubt we'll have a few talks during my walks each day.
I wanted to do something that would challenge me as I have learned from all the retirees I have called on through the years that aging is not for the faint-hearted. I need to make sure I am connected to my most inner strength as well as connected to God. I have read many stories of the pilgrims of the past - those walking in the year 900, or 1200, or 1350. When I do feel some concern I find that it is comforting to remember that thousands have made this walk prior to me. Many making this pilgrimage during medieval time lost their life to bandits, illness or injury. My pilgrimage does not require me to be ready to lay down my life, just my comforts.
Sarah York writes that "Pilgimage... invites you to travel with your heart, guided toward an inner goal that may be as much in the journey as in the arrival." My excitement about walking the Camino is there, in the journey. I do not have a great desire to see Santiago de Compestelo (thought I'll probably be pretty excited to see it after the 475 +/- miles to get there). But I do have a great desire to journey, to travel with different people on a daily basis, to walk on this earth and see it in a way I will not see in a car, to find community with groups of people who may speak a variety of languages, and to find God in the midst of all of this.
Again, from Sarah York: "Spiritual journey takes us to the sacred sites of our past, of our world, and of our imagination. Sometimes we travel from home on pilgrimage, but our real journey is the one we take within ourselves." May your journey be blessed.
Each time I prepare to the begin walking a labyrinth I have to pause. When I first started walking labyrinths I would be hit by anxiety: "Do I really have time to make this walk?" Over the years I have learned that I do have time, but still, I have that fleeting moment of anxiety. I certainly expect to have that anxiety rise at times over this summer: "What am I doing? Do I really have six weeks to just walk along this Camino?" And when I experience that anxiety I will remind myself that yes, I do have time for this spiritual journey, one which will no doubt be humbling at times, and hopefully will be joyful at others, and by the end, I hope I will better know how to be at home.
I will have to leave behind many, many of the things that give me comfort: my husband Richard, grandchildren and all the rest of my family, my church, my home, car, routine, work. I think that is part of the work of pilgrimage - at least I'm seeing that in the pilgrimage of the Camino de Santiago. Backpacking is not something with which I have much experience. I'm wondering how I'll do as I try to find the refugio where I'll spend the night though I will be extremely tired, dealing with sore feet, and very limited Spanish. Making a pilgrimage will require me to rely heavily upon God and no doubt we'll have a few talks during my walks each day.
I wanted to do something that would challenge me as I have learned from all the retirees I have called on through the years that aging is not for the faint-hearted. I need to make sure I am connected to my most inner strength as well as connected to God. I have read many stories of the pilgrims of the past - those walking in the year 900, or 1200, or 1350. When I do feel some concern I find that it is comforting to remember that thousands have made this walk prior to me. Many making this pilgrimage during medieval time lost their life to bandits, illness or injury. My pilgrimage does not require me to be ready to lay down my life, just my comforts.
Sarah York writes that "Pilgimage... invites you to travel with your heart, guided toward an inner goal that may be as much in the journey as in the arrival." My excitement about walking the Camino is there, in the journey. I do not have a great desire to see Santiago de Compestelo (thought I'll probably be pretty excited to see it after the 475 +/- miles to get there). But I do have a great desire to journey, to travel with different people on a daily basis, to walk on this earth and see it in a way I will not see in a car, to find community with groups of people who may speak a variety of languages, and to find God in the midst of all of this.
Again, from Sarah York: "Spiritual journey takes us to the sacred sites of our past, of our world, and of our imagination. Sometimes we travel from home on pilgrimage, but our real journey is the one we take within ourselves." May your journey be blessed.
Saturday, June 18, 2011
What is the Camino de Santiago?
So what is this Camino? If you Google Camino de Santiago you will get plenty of sites where you can read about this pilgrimage. Two sites I have used are http://www.caminodesantiago.me.uk/ and americanpilgrims.com. They will give you much more background, but basically you should know that the Camino de Santiago includes numerous pilgrimage routes throughout Europe which all culminate at Santiago de Compostela in northwest Spain. I will be using the route called Camino Frances which works its way through France then moves across Northern Spain. I have selected Roncesvalles in Spain as my starting point.
In The Pilgrimage Road to Santiago: The Complete Cultural Handbook, David M. Gitlitz and Linda Kay Davidson write, (referring to the story of St. James): "Honed over centuries of discoveries, intertretations, claims, and counterclaims, it lies somewhere between legend and fact, between superstition and belief." To make a long story short, James (brother of John, son of Zebedee), a disciple of Jesus, went to Galicia preaching as he went. He did not make many disciples, but in a vision the Virgin Mary asked him to build a church. He erected La Iglesia de la Virgen del Pilar. He then returned to Israel where he was beheaded in 44 C.E.
His body was transported by boat back to Galicia where it was buried. In the 9th century the bones were rediscovered and with the tomb now marked the pilgrimage gradually came into being. Check out the website above (http://www.caminodesantiago.me.uk/) and click on St. James and History of the Camino for more information on James the Disciple and the Camino.
On August 25th I will leave Boston for Madrid and on the 26th I will make my way by bus to Pamplona where I will catch the evening bus to Roncesvalles. Then on Saturday, August 27th I too will join the others who have walked this Camino for over 1,000 years.
In The Pilgrimage Road to Santiago: The Complete Cultural Handbook, David M. Gitlitz and Linda Kay Davidson write, (referring to the story of St. James): "Honed over centuries of discoveries, intertretations, claims, and counterclaims, it lies somewhere between legend and fact, between superstition and belief." To make a long story short, James (brother of John, son of Zebedee), a disciple of Jesus, went to Galicia preaching as he went. He did not make many disciples, but in a vision the Virgin Mary asked him to build a church. He erected La Iglesia de la Virgen del Pilar. He then returned to Israel where he was beheaded in 44 C.E.
His body was transported by boat back to Galicia where it was buried. In the 9th century the bones were rediscovered and with the tomb now marked the pilgrimage gradually came into being. Check out the website above (http://www.caminodesantiago.me.uk/) and click on St. James and History of the Camino for more information on James the Disciple and the Camino.
On August 25th I will leave Boston for Madrid and on the 26th I will make my way by bus to Pamplona where I will catch the evening bus to Roncesvalles. Then on Saturday, August 27th I too will join the others who have walked this Camino for over 1,000 years.
Starting the blog
Since I decided to walk the Camino de Santiago a couple of years ago I have experienced a number of new things: new hiking boots, lightweight sleeping bag, frame pack, blisters, callouses... and now blogging. Someone suggested this as a way to keep in touch with friends and family as I walk. So I'll begin by using it tell a little about how this pilgrimage came about and my preparations. Welcome to anyone reading this! Guess I'll start with "why".
Back in 2008 I started thinking about the fact that I was fast approaching my 60th birthday. I was looking at this birthday as a milestone. Both of my parents started showing signs of dementia early in the 80s and died later in their 80s. But before that they were very active. In fact my mom was singing and even up dancing just a couple of weeks before her death. They had very rich years as "elders" and I decided I wanted to spend some time looking at how I would live the years making up the final chapters of my life.
But how to do this. I love having time alone, solitude, silence, time for prayer, contemplation, but I do not always stick it out for long. There's always something that needs to be done, or my attention simply gets distracted.
A number of years ago I heard of a clergywoman in our conference (New England Conference of the United Methodist Church) walking the Camino de Santiago. She had asked for prayers as she walked. I had no idea what she was doing and on her return talked to her a little about it. Then another clergywoman from our conference walked the Camino in France for 3 months one year and returned to complete the Camino in Spain the following year. I had a chance to talk with her and started to think about the fact that all you do is walk on a pilgrimage of this type. And walking would mean time set aside with no meetings, housework, phone calls... I started to think about the the Camino as a pilgrimage, a time set aside to contemplate how I would live my senior years and by spring 2009 I had decided to definitely walk the Camino de Santiago during the summer after my 60th birthday. That's when I learned that the pilgrimage would not start in August 2011 in Spain, but rather, it started as I began preparations. So here I am now, blogging, as another part of preparing.
Back in 2008 I started thinking about the fact that I was fast approaching my 60th birthday. I was looking at this birthday as a milestone. Both of my parents started showing signs of dementia early in the 80s and died later in their 80s. But before that they were very active. In fact my mom was singing and even up dancing just a couple of weeks before her death. They had very rich years as "elders" and I decided I wanted to spend some time looking at how I would live the years making up the final chapters of my life.
But how to do this. I love having time alone, solitude, silence, time for prayer, contemplation, but I do not always stick it out for long. There's always something that needs to be done, or my attention simply gets distracted.
A number of years ago I heard of a clergywoman in our conference (New England Conference of the United Methodist Church) walking the Camino de Santiago. She had asked for prayers as she walked. I had no idea what she was doing and on her return talked to her a little about it. Then another clergywoman from our conference walked the Camino in France for 3 months one year and returned to complete the Camino in Spain the following year. I had a chance to talk with her and started to think about the fact that all you do is walk on a pilgrimage of this type. And walking would mean time set aside with no meetings, housework, phone calls... I started to think about the the Camino as a pilgrimage, a time set aside to contemplate how I would live my senior years and by spring 2009 I had decided to definitely walk the Camino de Santiago during the summer after my 60th birthday. That's when I learned that the pilgrimage would not start in August 2011 in Spain, but rather, it started as I began preparations. So here I am now, blogging, as another part of preparing.
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