Recently my wife Mary and I watched a travel program on TV which spoke about a walk commonly known as “The Camino de Santiago”. The Camino de Santiago (the Way of St. James) is a large network of ancient pilgrim routes stretching across Europe and coming together at the tomb of St. James (Santiago in Spanish) in Santiago de Compostela in north-west Spain.
The most popular route (which gets very crowded in mid-summer) is the Camino Francés which stretches 780 km from St. Jean-Pied-du-Port near Biarritz in France to Santiago. Both I and Mary have decided to walk this route together in the summer 2013. You might be wondering why we would even think of doing such a thing.
I recently read that some people set out on the Camino for spiritual reasons. Many others find spiritual reasons along the Way as they meet other pilgrims, attend pilgrim masses in churches and monasteries and cathedrals, and see the large infrastructure of buildings provided for pilgrims over many centuries. Some are just in it for the walk.
I am not really sure yet exactly why the suggestion came up but deep down inside I suppose we are both hoping to learn more about ourselves and the world we live in. On a positive note people who have walked the route say that walking the Camino is not difficult - most of the stages are fairly flat on good paths – the main difficulty is probably walking continuously for 10, 20 or 30 days.
This brings me to this week’s encouraging words which happen to be related to our future Walk. Those who know me on a personal level would probably describe me as a much focused person who has a tendency to fix my eyes on a goal and tend to miss all that I happening around me – sort of looking but not really seeing. This was very evident during our visit to South Africa last year.
My wife Mary on the other hand likes to savor the moment taking in everything around her as if she were collecting small treasurers along the way. For her every new place is an adventure where one can think, discover something new, hear God’s voice, and not worry so much about the final destination and keeping the time table. As you might suspect our walk in Spain is going to have several challenges we will need to overcome together.
To be honest with you I wish I could be more like Mary. Mary is a continual reminder to me that God has created hidden treasures for His children to find and experience. Just like the hidden splendors we discovered in South Africa last year, I believe there are precious jewels of wisdom waiting to be sought out, discovered and enjoyed.
King Solomon was given a chance any one of us would have wanted: A wish. God would grant him anything he requested. Just think about it: He did not ask for money, power or fame, he asked for wisdom. Somehow Solomon knew that wisdom contained far more treasures than anything. This reminds me that although there is God-given wisdom, we are still called to seek, look, and ask for it from God. As the book of Proverbs notes, it is then that we will have an understanding and fear of the Lord. It is then that He can open our eyes (Proverbs 2:1-5).
Looking back on my life, I realize I am guilty of looking but not really seeing. Right in front of me, God’s wisdom sits like jewels of heaven ready and waiting to be captured and used. Too often, I literally “drive” through life not looking left or right but speeding ahead to my next pit stop.
If we are not looking carefully, we’ll miss all God has. Jesus himself reminds us that wisdom is often found amongst things not easily seen, yet right there all along, to be discovered when you seek it. As we prepare to enter a new year, be reminded that Jesus said, “Seek and you shall find.” (Matthew 7:7-8)
GOING DEEPER:
1. Think through times in your life where you missed something important God was showing you. Why do you think you could not see?
2. Take time now this week to pray and ask God to give you wisdom for the New Year.