Day 103i: Their cross to lean on; our Cross to bear … (July 26, 2019)
Interestingly, this is the only “shot” that I wished I had from my previous Camino pilgrimage of 2008 (the camera to which I had access on that particular Walk completely ran out of battery power just as I reached this very spot), and it was a great gift of Karl to capture it now so many years later. It is an image that means a lot to me personally and an image that represents to much to humanity as a whole as well* …
“To humbly utter Your name is to string together pearls of peace, and the sheer joy found in your omnimanifested form is always fresh & new. I have traveled far in service to your perfect Love, and I have come to fully cease desiring to see your unembodied form. I realize now that your truest worshipers are those soaked in gentleness, and that such caringness of being cannot seek either divine liberation or raptured rewards for itself. No, I have come to know and indeed reside within the fuller You in every act of kindness – that radiant Sanctuary of Soul where giving and receiving have become one, and where all know a fuller freedom from the stinging mists of fear & suffering.” ~ inspired by Tukaram
“Do more than merely exist. Do something meaningful for another in need. Do more than merely fit in. Go the extra mile carrying the burden of a friend. Do more that merely strive for a while. Persist each & every moment, until your very end. Do more than be merely present. Engage all nearby with a full & complete availability. Do more than merely survive. Leap boldly each day into your living. Do more than merely wish for Goodness. Choose to be a frequent source thereof. Do more than merely be creative. Remember to create for peace. Do more than merely make a living. Walk gently amongst everyone you encounter, leaving velvet footprints of joy and laughter.” ~ inspired by I. Ayivor
*To me, it represented my personal journey with the Christian religion – from Christian attendee in my youth (my family attended church every “Chreaster”) to Christian persecutee in high school (regularly damned to Hell by my peers for neither openly professing nor internally believing that Jesus was the one & only Son of God) to Christian reviler in college (loudly denouncing any all adherents of that faith) to proto-Christian follower of The Way of Christ during my years as a peace Pilgrim (avidly & devoutly adhering & enlivening the teachings of Jesus found in the Gospels, while simultaneously rejecting most of the Paul-based tenets of the christian church) … As far as humanity is concerned, I feel this image symbolizes Christianity’s proper place in society – namely, as a brief resting place for the weary during their longer and far fuller lives of secular service to others.
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