Day 4 on The Camino Way

Some days you just grind through. You are tired and hurting in some way or another—physically, emotionally or maybe mentally or spiritually. You just have no energy for what lies ahead of you, but you have to get some things done.

Today was a day like that for all five of us. We have been beaten up for three days—tough trekking, still struggling to sleep well, and hurting. Sally tweaked her right knee and has to be careful going down the steep inclines. Fortunately one of our number had a knee brace and Sally is wearing that. It helps, but still she‘s hurting.

And , I have this constant ache under the ribs on my right side. My spine twists to the right side of my body and this is beginning to wear on me as I age. Most of the time my scoliosis doesn’t affect me in any way. But when I stand for a long time or need to move my arms for a long period, then I have this dull pain. It’s like a toothache. It hurts but not so much that you can’t function.

There’s Always One

The other three of our tribe have their own aches and pains, a knee, hips, back. Only one of us is just cruising along. We all hate him! (Not true, he is a saint. He helps each of us in many different ways.) But we still hate him!

What’s inspiring to me is that none of us complains and not one of us stops moving forward. There is something to say in this about life in general. The fact is we all experience pain in our lives. Over dinner tonight we talked about some of the painful memories we have of parenting our children. Each of us recounted how we had failed our children at times when they most needed us. We talked about how many times we apologized to them for these failures and how gracious our children were in not only forgiving us but loving us and respecting us. So we concluded that either we had exceptionally good children or maybe we did some things right after all.

When you hurt them, you find out some things about yourself. Can you push through pain? Are you able to ask for help, or accept help if offered?

Mary Moment!

There’s a story connected to this stature of Mary. In 2015, a man was walking the Camino. He grew tired and wanted to quit. He didn’t think he could make it. He sat down by the town fountain and a young girl came by. He asked her name. ”Maria,” she said. This reminded him of Mother Mary, so he prayed through her—“Mother, please help me finish this walk.” He felt energized and did finish. Then he sponsored the building of the statue of Mary above.

Now, of course, this statue becomes a place where people come to ask of Mary strength to walk on in life. And here’s the truth of this matter: Mary can’t help them. Jesus can’t help them either. On this walk, this Camino Way, we help each other.

Day after day, step by step, this group of five is doing this hard thing together. We help each other. We accept help from each other. Whatever food you have in your pack, you share. And you share water and you learn to follow one another, and different ones lead.

Buen Camino!