It is the day before our Walk to Reconnect tribe enters Santiago de Compostela. We feel perched on the edge of the future, not knowing what comes next.
We all have those moments of “what’s next”? Right?
For me, the night before Santiago has always (4 times now) been a day of reckoning. About to complete a journey which seemed impossible at the start, but now cozy in its expected physical discomfort and daily gleeful connections. Concurrently I find myself gazing over the precipice of what life will be after this is over.
A part of me wishing this pilgrimage could go on forever. A part of me can’t wait to get back to comfort and familiar routines.
Though familiar, I know I will never be the same.
As fate designed today, I am sitting in the same spot I sat the night before I arrived in Santiago for the first time 4 years ago.
Exactly. The. Same. Spot.
I find myself where this dream began.
So much is the same, and everything has changed.
That night there was a huge electrical storm which took out power and kept me from having dinner with friends in a village close by. I sat in the plastic patio chair and wrote my anxious and elated heart out to St. James wondering what would come next.
In that journal I asked St. James, if it was in the best interest for all concerned, if he would help me share my Camino experience in a way that would empower people to release fear and self-doubt, to be courageous, and to know they are capable of so much more than they realize.
In that moment the prayer and its answer felt complete. It was magic.
That moment seldom recalled, though an abiding part of who I am in the world and my hopes and visions.
I had imagined that the “way to share the Camino experience” would be through a book I’d felt I needed to write. (I am working on it.)
I sit here now, with pilgrims who have shared what this experience has meant/is meaning to them. Not only one group of pilgrims which I’ve been walking with across Spain, but a group of pilgrims who have been walking with us from all over the world.
In a way I could have never imagined, however imperfect, I glimpsed the future from my spot on this porch 4 years ago.
My prayer was answered in meaningful ways that had nothing to do with people reading a book… yet.
I feel so blessed.
Dive deep in your pilgrimage these last few days. Pray, if thats a thing you do. Meditate, journal, sing… whatever it takes to connect to that part of you who knows who you are becoming. Who you want to become.
I had no idea when we started on this adventure together 12 days ago, that I would see myself becoming what I had dreamed those years ago.
Life is so grand!
The future you are longing for is coming. See if you can glimpse it, and then make it come true.
Stay steady pilgrims. Get connected and stay there. Listen and see what happens.
Let’s keep walking together,
Jennie
Thank you for inspiring me to walk the Camino. It has broken my heart open and unleashed new creativity. I did not know if I would be strong enough. If I would be willing to face my fears. I found I have abundant strength. The universe has so much more to offer as I see my limited imagination broadened in every step.