January 16, 2004

Gratitude

We must recognize that feeling and expressing gratitude for life makes us more human, more deserving, and more honorable.



We have become accustomed to equating the value of something with its price. The miracles that we find on the Camino…nature, towns and their people, art, history, other pilgrims, and the hosts at the pilgrim refuges…all defy the logic of give and take. One day they appear in your life, and just as they appeared, they leave. That is beauty! They are looking for nothing more than to exist; free things are payment in and of themselves. We must recognize that feeling and expressing gratitude for life makes us more human, more deserving, and more honorable. We know that those things we do voluntarily, freely, without anyone pushing us, simply because they appeal to us or we need to do them, are truly more important and make us feel good. Those things make us feel alive and validate us as people. The Camino pushes us to do things freely, moved by a deep impulse to live life intensely.

No comments:

Post a Comment