Day 104e: A greater place of Grace … (July 27, 2019)
One of the most powerful lessons I repeatedly learned along this Walk was the ever-remembered fact that my life was not to be about convincing others to be more kind or getting them to wake up and join Team Compassion. No, my life – whether walking or not – was to be about simply setting forth each day to encounter others with deeply intimate caring, to thereby plant real seeds of real LOVE within them, and then to simply flow onward gently and allow those seeds to sprout & bloom of their own timing & accord … And so it was that – despite (or perhaps because of) their original hesitancy to embrace my Walk &/or extend me heartfelt hospitality – I very quickly came to be extremely fond of the hospitalero/a staff at Albergue do Sol e da Lua – smoothly seeing them as very real extensions of my ever-greater global Family. And even though Gabriele was the one who most deeply resonated with my message of Kindness, every single one of them showed me an easy generosity, and every single one of them proved to be a flagrant facet of the very same Divinity. From Lucas’ quietly curious warmth to Marta’s gentle smiles (and excellent cooking) to Riccardo’s ebullient conversation (and fellow love of meaningful movies), they all came to treat me like Family – and became my Family for life in return …
“Fellowship is a place of grace, where mistakes aren’t rubbed in but are rather rubbed out. No matter where we rest or with whom, fellowship always happens when mercy triumphs over judgment. And it is this deeper foundation of humility that allows our inevitable Success to be secondary to any immediate impacts. Impact is the only real test; the hearts, minds and lives you touch with love, enhance with kindness and thereby forever change.” ~ inspired by Rasheed Ogunlaru
;