"Praying with your feet"

That's how Nathan Green, a friend of mine, defines a pilgrimage: 'Praying with your feet!"

I resonate mightily with that description.  On my 60th birthday, I felt compelled to do a 60km walk - a prayer walk around and around our small town.  The 17 km before breakfast was a snap, and praying was easy.  But around the 22 km mark, my feet began to blister and I could tell this was going to be a long, long day.  8 km later I learned that 30 is not anywhere near half of 60.  (Walk sixty km some day and you'll learn what I mean.)  I can take you to the spot in the road where I told God, "I have no strength left to formulate thoughts and words, so you are going to have to accept that for the rest of this day, every step is a prayer."

Today at the airport, while waiting for our first flight someone I had just met asked me the purpose of my Camino. I replied that it was a celebration of 40 years of marriage, and we had an interesting talk. (He was in town to celebrate his 50th, which made me fee like just a child or a newly wed)

It's true - the official reason for our Camino is to celebrate our 40th Anniversary, but we've read and researched enough to know that there is something more. Part of the "more" is to pray ... and mostly without words.  On any given day if you ask,"What did you pray about?", I think I'll have to say, "I don't know".  But I know I prayed. My "feet" prayed

I haven't started walking yet, in fact as I write this I'm somewhere over the Atlantic (I always wanted to say that) but I feel that my feet have started praying.  And maybe, just maybe, they are praying for you. 

If you are a resident of Grand Manan, I know they are praying for you.  But more about that in the next posting.  Look for it under the title "Camino of the Soul".