It was a gray chilly afternoon walk yesterday here at Phil’s Camino. No one was here to walk with. It was one of those wintertime occasions when “we” try not to see it as a chore but that is challenging. But this trail has a sort of energy because as Steve our NWBC says “we never close”. In other words we are always continuing or always wpresent.
I went around my usual three times to equal somewhere around a mile and three quarters total. The first time I put out two pounds of sunflower seeds for the birdies. The second time I prayed the rosary which on Sundays concentrates on the Glorious Mysteries. That’s a good thing. Then the third time I kind of hurried through it.
It’s a discipline and sometimes as with them all it is harder to accomplish but one persists. In lean times and fat times the beat goes on. I like to think that folks always visualize Phil’s Camino as an active process. It goes on no matter what.
The other day one of the pilgrims that was with me was talking about a friend of his that had some serious malady and was out washing his car “because he can”. In other words whether it needed it or not was irrelevant and any other reason or motivation was secondary to his belief that he wanted to do it because he still could or “because he (still) can”.
It maybe is part of my motivation with this my backyard walk. It certainly colored my pilgrimage to Santiago four years ago. It is a sort of Don Quixote thing. We just keep getting it done no matter how crazy things get.
So yesterday, back to yesterday, I came in after the walk and had tapas with My Rebecca. Sometimes in winter with no one walking with me tapas get skipped but this time I felt strongly about it. It was as I thought about it was hospitality toward myself. See that? Maybe I deserve that?
Have to go walk, Monday morning loves, Felipé.
Hospitality toward self. That is so beautiful.
I remembered after reading your post that there was a retreat talking about hospitality through the lens of adoption–and it was lead by 1) I person who was given up for adoption, 2) a person who adopted and 3)by a person who gave up a child for adoption. I would have liked to been a fly on the wall for that one!
Yes Jessika ~ good comment and it points to hospitality with a capital H. That bigger sense of things out there. Felipé.x
WNC– really means and fits ‘hospitality to self and others’, doesn’t it? WNC often shows up as a punch-line in humor, an important source of joy we often minimize as trivial, but now I see WNC also in the foundational context of caring– for self and others and our world. I love it that you and Becca stayed with the plan– tapas towards the end of the day. Others may not have been seated there, but they WERE there, it seems to me. Your Camino path has illuminated what have been unexplored, sometimes dark corners, and found and revealed places where we’ve missed seeing meaning and joy. Behind the scenes stuff I guess, like poetry does. If WNC, the chances of finding them move to our favor. Thank you. Again.
Steve ~ Yes “We Never Close” is in the bigger sense of keeping the flame of hospitality alive at times when it would be easier to just let it go out. Felipé.
Amigo! Felipe!
Such times we are having here in the Heartland! Today marked the 5th consecutive day that our local school district has had to cancel school. And the likelihood is that the next two days will be “no goes” as well. In the 44 years we have lived here, that many consecutive closures has never happened before. Actual temperatures and fierce winds are going to produce wind chills of minus 45 to minus 55 Tuesday through late Wednesday. In ’77 and ’78, we had a dozen days cancelled but they took place over the months of December through February. We’re in uncharted territory here!
The “hook” that prompted today’s reply is the “because I can” remark you used in today’s blog. It has become my standard reply when asked (by many!) what prompts my long distance bike rides and my ken for “Pilgriming”: Question: Why do you do it? Answer: Two fold; because I want to, and because I can. And the second of those reasons has a finite expiration date!
Keep on Keeping On, my Pilgrim Amigo!
SF,
PFJ
PFJ ~ serious weather on the prairies. Prayers for you and your neighbors. We meanwhile are in a little eddy of good weather with daytime temps trying for the fifties. Walking this afternoon and we may try for the first outdoor tapas of the (maybe) spring season. Yes, the whole concept of “because we can” becomes more important as time goes on. Hello to the fam! Felipé.
Hospitality towards ourselves is just as important as hospitality towards others. For sure! My spiritual teacher always encourages us to give more, to tithe more, to do more for others because we can only receive at the level at which we give. Love you Phil!
Annie ~ hi and good thoughts from you. Thanks. Shari is coming out to Vashon and the ranch today. I have to scurry around here to clean up. We may try for the first outside tapas of the year this afternoon. Wish us luck, Felipé.x