Reflections on the Meaning of faithA really personal topic, right? And often confused with the word “religion.” But the last few days have provided much opportunity to ponder what faith means to me. 

As most of you know I was raised nominally Jewish, Bat Mitzvah, Yom Kippur, Passover, etc as well as Xmas and Easter sunrise service. While I culturally identify as Jewish, I feel more spiritually alighed with Asian/Indian belief systems. I mention this mostly as a disclaimer. The most important spiritual message I received from my Jewish upbringing was “the reward for a good life is ……. (drum roll please) a good life. And I don’t even know if that’s just something that my dad made up.

But the the lesson I am relearning over and over again on the Camino is that we are taken care of, that we “do not walk alone.” This message is articulated by Christians as I “walk with Jesus, he is my protector” but it is a tenant of ALL faiths, even the one I made up for me. In fact, I think it IS faith. The KNOWLEDGE, the absolute certainty that your “God*” is taking care of you; that is faith. And it is a lesson of The Camino over and over again in big and small ways. 

*I prefer to genarlly use the word “Universe” but “God” is easier to type and more accessible to many people. 

Here are some examples of being taken care of on The Camino. I wanted a banana and out of nowhere a banana appears; I wanted a foot bath and as we check into the Albergue the ‘hispitalitaro’ comes up to me and offers me a foot bath (with Epson salt). 

But the story where I was stranded 24 km from The Camino was more significant to me. This was when I was in the middle of my “off Camino” experience and I WORRIED and stressed over what would happen IF I couldn’t get a ride back to The Camino. I completely stressed out over a future moment instead of just living in the moment and having faith that it would all work out; all I needed to do was be patient and let life roll out. 

This kind of situation happens many times a day (especially if climbing a mountain); I stress if I am going the right way and all I need is to be patient and a way-marker will appear. Or I stress over if I have enough water and all I need is to be patient and a fountain will appear. I stress over many things and all I need is to be patient, live in the moment, and let the moment take care of itself. Cause the truth is that worry does no good anyways; what is, is what will be. Have faith and you will be rewarded. 

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