Sorry for the pun, but it does fit the topic that I am writing about. Feet. We had our share of foot problems during the Camino – mostly blisters, although I’m sure there were plenty of plain old sore feet at the end of each day of hiking. This was despite careful planning, including multiple long “practice” hikes in our shoes/boots. 

A couple of scriptures also come to mind when I think about feet.

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who bring good tidings, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, “Your God reigns!” (Is 52:7)

The head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty. (1 Cor 12:21-23)

I’ve experienced a fair amount of foot problems related to my running. Besides blisters, I’ve lost numerous toenails and battled plantar fasciitis more than once. In fact, when I think about my feet, it is mostly because they hurt or have recently been hurting. 

I think there a lot of things in our lives that we mostly ignore, except when they are causing us pain. There is a reflection in Magnificat (Aug 27) by Father Dajczer, discussing the parable of the talents. He states that “A talent is not only receiving something, it is also lacking something.” He goes on to say that “bad health is also a talent.” 
May we learn to recognize things good and “bad” as blessings.

As the deer longs for streams of water, so my soul longs for you, O God (Psalms 42:2)

Our backyard visitor 

We crossed quite a few bridges on the Camino and many of them were very picturesque. 

Usually, we saw the creek well before we saw the bridge. 

Eventually, a pattern became clear – a long slow descent, the creek sighting, crossing a bridge, then a long slow ascent. As much as we enjoying seeing these scenic creeks and bridges, we did not look forward the ensuing climbs. 

I’m struck by irony of this pattern. As a metaphor, we often talk about the “view from the top,” usually associated with a struggle to get to the top. When we were in Israel, we climbed to the top of Mount Tabor, thought to be where the transfiguration occurred. We talked about “coming down from the mountain” and how the disciples might have felt. 

I think the lesson is that in our lives, as often as “special” moments follow a difficult period,  maybe even more often they preceed the difficult periods. 

Mr A’s new favorite (until there Are more raspberries to pick)

The current hot weather we are having is a good back drop for story that goes with this picture.

By the 6th day of hiking, we had established a daily “routine.” Up in the morning & pack our bags. Breakfast, then start hiking. Morning break, then more hiking. Lunch-hike-break-hike and start looking for our hotel. We were usually fairly tired by the time we got to the hotel, but feeling more energy in time for evening mass and dinner. Part of the “routine” included seeing mileage markers at very regular intervals.

In the afternoon this day, we noticed many of the markers were missing the distance to Santiago. At first it was something that just seemed unusual, but as the afternoon wore on it became a source of concern. The reason for concern is that our main source of direction for finding our hotel was based on leaving the trail at a certain mileage marker. To top it off, this was quickly becoming our hottest day of hiking.

Happily, the marker for where we were supposed to turn had the km sign on it. After hiking through a “eucalyptus forest,” we successfully arrived at our hotel. As I reflect back on this experience, it strikes me how dependent we become (emotionally) on what we expect to happen. Despite that fact that we had played no part in the markers being present, we quickly began to feel like we “deserved” to have the markers. As if they had been there since the beginning of time, for all the pilgrims who had gone before us.

In some way, this situation made me think of Jonah and the story of how he found shade under a plant after he had walked through Nineveh. “Jonah was greatly delighted with the plant.” (Jonah 4:6) Then God sends a worm that kills the plant and Jonah is very upset – he wants to die! The LORD tells Jonah, “You are concerned over the gourd plant which cost you no effort and which you did not grow; it came up in one night and in one night it perished. And should I not be concerned over the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons?” (Jonah 4:10-11)

How often do we focus on what is “missing” from our lives, rather than being grateful for what we do have?