Several of you might know that this summer I walked my 3rd Camino. It wasn’t necessarily the primary goal to walk it again, but when Karen and I decided to spend part of summer hiking, and when we both picked Portugal as our top destination of the ones available to us, it only made sense to select 400 km of the Portuguese Camino from Coimbra, Portugal to Santiago, Spain. :-) To me, it was actually flatter, easier, and overall more comfortable of a walk than the previous two in northern Spain, barring the fact that Europe is breaking heat records everywhere. (Sleep tends to elude me on hot nights.) But the highlight was once again in the people.
There were Roberto and Enrico, my two Italian dads who watched over me the first week until Karen could join. The albergue host Carlos Rios, who talked a mile a minute and had 24 years’ worth of stories on the Camino. David, whose skills as a physical therapist were called on nearly every night to deal with aching feet or sore shoulders. Viki, to whom the waters of the Atlantic were never too cold for a quick afternoon swim. And of course dear, sweet Ildiko, who became our steadfast companion and shared our room, meal, and life beyond just the walking.
It was she who brought to life the chapter on “Seeing” I had read by Annie Dillard in Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Dillard’s challenge is to be more mindful at noticing the small things that pass you in life and could so easily go unnoticed. Actually, it’s more than just seeing them; it’s about taking joy in them. I’m not sure of Dillard’s faith in the slightest, but her chapter resonated with the Spirit inside of me, whispering of how God is glorified when I enjoy his creation. This practice came naturally to Ildeko. We’d walk around the corner, and you could hear her breath catch as she sighted an iguana sun-bathing on a rock or relished the sound of the waves. Regularly she’d reach to the ground, crush something green like mint or rosemary between her fingers, and then hold her fingers up to her nose for the next kilometer. Once she stopped in a small pine forest to take in the stillness of no cars or beachy tourists and to perceive all manner of bird calls and squirrels. There is so much I would’ve missed without her.
I’ve only just started reading Cold Tangerines by Shauna Niequist, but after spending two weeks being shown how to “see,” I was arrested by Niequist’s back cover blurb: I want my everyday to make God … glad that he gave life to someone who loves the gift.” That’s exactly it! Why it mattered that my new friend, Ildeko, was calling attention to beauty. She was creating in me a gratitude at getting to witness that beauty, an appreciation for being present on the Camino. And I couldn’t help but see God’s fingerprints all over, which in turn caused me to delight in him. Worship. Perhaps this is the real reason why this third trek to Santiago felt easier than the other two. How can I be the kind of person who uses ordinary, everyday beauties to call forth worship? I'm still learning.
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