“If you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.” - Dolly PartonMost of the time, the Camino is beautiful and sometimes even breathtaking. Today was not that day. Today was long and boring and sometimes even ugly. We started the day walking on a paved road with fields of dirt on either side. There were even some stretches of barbed wire fences. As the day got hotter, and the trill of the grasshoppers rose from the weeds, we really had to force ourselves to soldier on.
Days like this make one yearn for the beautiful days. When we find ourselves walking through the ugly parts of life, we can start to focus on the ugliness itself. We question our situation and wonder if we should find a way to skip through the hard parts and get back to the beauty. But if we stayed in the beautiful places all of the time, we would lose our appreciation for the beauty. Also, there is growth when we learn to endure the ugliness, to face the grind and trust that beauty is ahead.Today I took special note of a certain plant. There is a wild rose that grows along the entire Camino, and it has heart shaped petals. When it is growing along the beautiful parts of The Camino, I am reminded of God’s divine beauty and grace. And when it is found along the ugly parts, like today, I am reminded that God is always present. Even among the ugliness. And He will remain present until we find ourselves among beauty again.
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