Last
Tuesday, I did something that was a bit foolhardy, but it turned out to be
instructive. It reinforced my
understanding that in order to experience the wonder of life, you actually have
to live it...good or bad. The only way
to be on the Way is to get out there and do it.
Having
returned from the car auction in Milton, I decided I would walk home from
Rockford to my home at Kingston Beach. Using
the abandoned rail trail for most of the journey, that's about 17.5 kms. I set out at 3 pm and was home, footsore and
muscle weary at 6:25 pm. I had a blister
on my right heel, another on the ball of my left foot and I think I'm going to
lose a toenail on my right foot. The
weather was fine and the walk was great!
I
met only two other people along the trail; a woman on a bike and another hiker
who turned out to be Fred Wallace (our sports commentator on local radio). Like me, Fred walks for many reasons; for
health and fitness, for recreation, for fresh air, for the joy of it. I stopped and chatted briefly with him (he
was headed south and I was going north) and we both marvelled a bit about
crossing paths out in the middle of nowhere.
The
unlikely circumstance of it was a bit of a wonder to me, a thought that
occupied me and took my mind off my sore feet for a few kilometers. The encounter reminded me, to use someone
else's words, that life is not a spectator sport. Living fully is not me strolling down an
aisle at the grocery store of life, filling my shopping cart with only the
stuff I like. To get as much as I can
from life, I have to jump in and stay in.
It's
a lot like being on the Way and being a member of a faith community; some parts
of the experience aren't easy or pleasant, but we persist and continue the
journey knowing we are in good company.
Stay
the course! Blessings and peace to all.
Pat
Take This Thought Away
With You
"Hope
is like the sun, which, as we journey toward it,
casts
the shadow of our burdens behind us."
~ Samuel Smiles ~
A Week's Worth of Gratitude
Saturday
~ being socked in
Sunday
~ Joy, Yvonne, Marlene, Marsha
Monday
~ garden work
Tuesday
~ long, long walks
Wednesday
~ Ryan Brown, civic leader
Thursday
~ rain drop rhythm on a tin pot
Friday
~ summer solstice
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