Happiness within you

snow on the ground leaving Montbonnet

  

"Your success and happiness lies in you. 

Resolve to keep happy, 

and your joy and you 

shall form an invincible host against difficulties."

~ Helen Keller

Music of the soul

Looking back at Conques, one of the jewels of the Le Puy Chemin

"I need simply and only to wait upon God without expectation, 

and God, all longing, resting in me, 

will breathe in me the music of my soul."

~Edwina Gately 

Quote sent to me by a friend just before my departure for Cluny, 2012.

Whisperings

a gift left for pilgrims on a simple little seat on the outskirts of Moissac

"Believe in the whisperings of God to your own heart"

~ Mary MacKillop 
as quoted by Bishop John Dew after his return from the Camino

It was a beautiful walk to Moissac, but quite a lot was on hard tarmac, 

and my feet were feeling tender as I reached the outskirts of the city.

Imagine my joy to find a simple little seat under a tree

with a sign that said it was a rest area for pilgrims,

and someone had even left some lollies on the little table. 

I sat down, took off my boots and socks- oh sweet relief-

put some tape on the 'hot spots' on my feet

ate a lolly, and was refreshed

as there were still several kms of city walking before the gîte.

I don't know who set up this simple little rest area

or left the lollies

but the love showed.
It seemed like they had listened to a whisper of God to their heart.
 

 

Reaching out

crops waving in the wind between Montcuq and Lauzerte

"There are things you can't reach
but you can reach out to them
and all day long.
The wind,
the bird flying away.
The idea of God."

~ Mary Oliver

This moment

spring leaves, one morning en route for Moissac

"We have only this moment,

sparkling like a star in our hand,

and melting like a snowflake."

~Sir Francis Bacon

One of the 'lessons' for me on the Camino was that you could spend time 
thinking about your sore feet or other body woes 
or you could just accept them, and instead notice 
and be thankful
and there were always so many things to notice and be thankful for
now, in the present moment.

Sacred Ground

On my very first day of walking, on the plateau above Le-Puy-en-Velay

before reaching Saint Christophe sur Dolaison

"Standing on Holy Ground 

– all is Sacred and all is gift"

I was nervous on that very first climb out of Le Puy
as I had heard it was steep, and wasn't sure if my fitness would be found wanting.

I was so pleased to find all my pre-Chemin walks meant it proved to be not too daunting.

I soon found myself relaxing into the landscape of the plateau above Le Puy

filled with an immense happiness to be there

and hoping that weeks of walking in the outdoors lay ahead.

I was filled with reverence and joy.

Life just seemed like pure gift in those moments.

On an unknown road

 Somewhere after Navarrenx, in the Basque country, nearing the Pyrenees

"I’d rather be stumbling along an unknown road

than safely cooped up in even the nicest cul-de-sac"

~Paul

on People for Others blog

I loved walking down this wet path, under the shelter of trees dripping with the rain. It was refreshing and enlivening. And flat and easy- which was not to be the case on the chemin later in the day!

Love changes everything

Françoise and Roger on the plateau above Cahors on a very hot day

"Love,
Love changes everything:
Hands and faces,
Earth and sky,
Love,
Love changes everything:
How you live and
How you die"

~Andrew Lloyd Webber
(see the whole song YouTube)
 

This was a day when I had a lot of contact with Françoise and Roger, and they turned out to be guardian angels. I had met them the previous evening in the convent at Vaylats where we shared the evening meal together. After lunch this day, I ran out of water in the unexpected heat. Somehow or other it seems that we met a local who discovered we were low on water... he returned and gave my angels some water. They ran in the heat to catch up to me to share the water...cold fresh water.... Their kindness in giving me the water was every bit as restorative as the water itself. 

I never saw Françoise and Roger again after this act of kindness: I would love to know how they got on, and if they reached Santiago... 

How can you explain?

 On the plateau above Le-Puy-en-Velay - on the first day of walking

"How can you explain that you need to know that the trees are still there, 

and the hills and the sky?  

Anyone knows they are.  

How can you say it is time your pulse responded to another rhythm, 

the rhythm of the day and the season 

instead of the hour and the minute?  

No, you cannot explain.  So you walk."

~Author unknown, from New York Times editorial, "The Walk," 25 October 1967

It was something very special, the frisson of joy that I knew as I walked into the countryside at the top of the climb out of Le Puy. All going well, I was embarking on something that would let me be a walker in the outdoors for weeks and weeks to come. 
I have just returned home from a Camino gathering in Hamilton: how good it was to be with a group of people who had also walked, and who understood, who didn't need an explanation about 'why' you would do such a thing...

patience

“Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience.”

~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Quote found on Picturing God website

For Kay and Craig

'climb' in the Auvergne region

on the first day out of Le-Puy-en-Velay

(This post is especially for Kay and Craig 

who are both about to start walking from Le-Puy-en-Velay in the coming week.)

"Watch your way then, as a cautious traveler

and don't be gazing at that mountain

or river in the distance

and saying, "How shall I ever get over them?"

but keep to the present little inch that is before you

and accomplish that

in the little moment that belongs to it.

The mountain and the river can only be passed

in the same way

and when you come to them

you will come to the light and strength

that belong to them."

~Kelty

Found on the sidebar of Mary Pott's blog 'Landing on my Feet'

in honour of her daughter who died of cancer aged 18  

Courage

 Spring appearing on the descent from the Aubrac Plateau

"Courage doesn't always roar. 

Sometimes courage is the quiet voice 

at the end of the day saying, 

"I will try again tomorrow." 

~Mary Anne Radmacher

Occasionally there were 'hard days' on the Camino.

One such day was the first day of crossing the Aubrac Plateau when I got so wet and cold. 
It wasn't the wet and cold that was so hard, it was the fact I was walking alone in those conditions, 
and knew there was a chance of becoming hypothermic, alone. 

So the next morning, I had to 'make myself' walk on.... 
I had to take my own courage by the scruff of the neck 
and walk on for the second day of the Aubrac crossing. 

And at the end of the day as I descended from the Plateau to a lower altitude,

even though I felt exhausted

there was the joy of seeing the world around me

change into early spring...

With respect

 cross seen in countryside on first day's walk out from Le-Puy-en-Velay

"Can I see another's woe, and not be in sorrow too? 

Can I see another's grief, and not seek for kind relief "

~William Blake

With sadness, thinking of those who died in the Christchurch earthquake

February 2011

Instruct ourselves... in joy...

en route for Aumont-Aubrac

               "It is what I was born for - 

                      to look, to listen,

to lose myself

    inside this soft world -

              to instruct myself

                     over and over

in joy

   and acclamation.

      Nor am I talking

          about the exceptional,

the fearful, the dreadful,

    the very extravagant -

       but of the ordinary,

           the common, the very drab,

the daily presentations."

~Mary Oliver

from the poem, 'Mindful'

It seemed like quite a long day from Les Faux to Aumont-Aubrac,
and when I checked my e-mail for the first time since leaving Paris
there was some sad, hard news about a family at home.

But even though it seemed like a bit of a dull, even difficult day,
the sun still came out 
to leave the shadow of this tree on the ground
a quiet bit of joy to notice.

Looking

trees with spring leaves, seen when approaching Figeac

"I look; morning to night I am never done with looking.

Looking I mean not just standing around, but standing around

     as though with your arms open.

And thinking: maybe something will come, some

    shining coil of wind,

    or a few leaves from any old tree-

        they are all in this too."

~Mary Oliver

in the poem 'Where Does the Temple Begin, Where Does It End?'

One of the lasting legacies of the Camino for me has been this looking:-

 looking and noticing details in the world outdoors around me.

Simplicity, Patience, Compassion

Woman who had walked from Brittany, relaxing in Ostabat,

"I have just three things to teach: 

simplicity, patience, compassion. 

These three are your greatest treasures. 

Simple in actions and in thoughts, 

you return to the source of being. 

Patient with both friends and enemies, 

you accord with the way things are. 

Compassionate toward yourself, 

you reconcile all beings in the world."

(Tao Te Ching, Chapter 67)

This French woman who I met in Ostabat was persevering despite great pain in her feet. 
I never saw her again after SJPP where I took an extra rest day. I hope she made it to Santiago, either on this walk or at a later time. She had walked pretty much alone until Bordeaux when she had met a pair of women walking, one of whom was seriously sight-impaired. 
The three walked together, helping each other. They were an inspiration.

A Long Walk

 Countryside near Saugues on the Le Puy route

"What on earth has happened to me 
in these 5 years since my first Camino? 

Then I simply decided to go for a long walk 

but of course I discovered as we all do 
that as well as the physical act of walking 

which is deeply meditative, 

the simplicity of the way of life, 

the friendship of strangers 

and the beauty of the countryside 

are actually a powerful spiritual brew."

~Johnnie Walker

Pilgrimage and Church

 Church in the village of Gaillac, as seen soon after leaving Cajarc

"Above all I suppose the experience opens my mind to God 

in ways which Church never does. 

Increasingly I’ve become bothered again by aspects of Church: 

by the lack of caring, the focus on power, 

the marginalisation of women inevitable in a male dominated organisation 

and the pompous self regard of many leaders. 

Now I find these feelings fading and taking on a new perspective. 

When I rage about it I want to take them all, Pope included, on pilgrimage. 

I realise I can only take myself."

~Johnnie Walker

Feeling with the Heart

On the plateau above Le Puy on the first morning's walk

“The best and most beautiful things in the world
cannot be seen, nor touched, 

but are felt in the heart.”

~Helen Keller

Let your God look upon you

 Between Pech Ibert and Cajarc

"Be silent.

Be still.

Wait before your God.

Say nothing.

Ask nothing.

Be still.

Let your God look upon you.

That is all."

~Edwina Gateley

H/T Concord Pastor