Wednesday, February 28, 2024

😎🐫🎤 Christ’s peace and presence be with you.  Brian and I are planning a pilgrimage to Spain to walk the 75 mile El Camino de Santiago, The Way of St. James.  We definitely have some preparation to do to get our bodies, particularly feet and legs ready for this journey.  We will need to prepare our minds and hearts for the spiritual journey.  And being that took French in high school, I’m also needing to spend this time of preparation learning Spanish.  Between Rosetta Stone and a Spanish friend of mine, who is also a Spanish teacher, I think I’ll be in good hands.  Needless to say, with all this preparation going on, there is an amazing, but challenging opportunity for great growth in my future. 

Will the pilgrimage be worth the many hours and days of preparation…100% it will.

Will the effects of this preparation go beyond this pilgrimage…100% it will.

Until now, I’m not sure if I’ve thought of my pilgrimage with God this way, but I have to ask myself…Am I willing to be deliberate in all of these areas in preparation for my 9 day El Camino de Santiago pilgrimage?  I also need to ask…Why am I/have I not been as committed to my life long pilgrimage with God? 

Why do I not physically prepare myself for doing His work?

Why do I not spend more time clearing my mind of distractions, so that I can focus on Him?

Why do I not spend more time in meditative, spiritual prayer?

Why do I not spend the time to learn God’s language?  Which by the way is Love.  Love can be a challenging language to learn.

To all of these, I would have to say my answer is distractions.  Some distractions can be okay, because it may lead us to a path God is guiding us to, but all too often I allow the distraction to consume my prayer time, which leaves me without prayer. 

How can I ever expect to learn the language of love if I don’t listen, practice, and put it into action?  Thanks be to God, that He doesn’t give up on us as easily as we give up on Him. 

The choice for today is in your hands.  The choice for tomorrow is in your hands.  When you fail, don’t start over from the beginning, because you will never make it to the end.  When you fail, the only way you will complete the journey is to pick up where you left off and keep moving forward. 

If you’re interested in information about an El Camino de Santiago pilgrimage, reach out to me and I can pass along some information.

Bless others and be blessed.

Shelly  :0)

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