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

Woyaya- We will get there

Home-made sign seen soon after Arzacq-Arraziguet

"We will get there
Heaven knows how we will get there
We know we will
It will be hard we know
And the road will be muddy and rough
But we'll get there
 Heaven knows how we will get there
We know we will."

~Osibisa 

Along the way at times, especially in France,

you would see home-made 

signs, or seats, or shelters, or food/drink stops

for pilgrims.

Always, it was great for morale,

a sign that others were thinking of you, encouraging you along the Chemin. 

Always, a little 'thank you' prayer went up...

A sudden moment of Grace

On top of the first hill on the Meseta
 

"I was truly alive and all was grace.
That Amazing Grace
where a single moment of blindness
turns to sight once again. "

~From 'Googling God' blog.

I climbed onto the Meseta with my two friends from Quebec.
We weren't sure what to expect.
So much is written about this place, that I think I truly feared it.

And maybe in the searing heat of summer it truly is deservedly feared.

But our first experience was of a green magic.
We climbed a hill onto the Meseta proper,
and suddenly this landscape stretched out before us,
as far as the eye could see, just green crops and sky.
Nothing else.
Almost in unison, for the three of us,
you could hear an audible sound,
as it took our breath quite away.

That small voice....

First morning- on the plateau above Le-Puy-en-Velay

"Trust that still, small voice that says
'This might work and I'll try it."

~Diane Mariechild

That first morning when I left Le Puy, I was so tentative.
It seemed almost an impossibility that I should walk all the way to Santiago.
But after I had reached the top of the old crater basin that held the town,
and walked out into the calm of the countryside
I had an incredible feeling of calm and joy.
I knew I was doing 'the right thing'.
I wasn't sure whether I would make it 'all the way'
but I already knew a deep peace.