I can’t believe its been so long since my last post! Forgive me.

Last week, I celebrated my 26th birthday and thus, as I begin this new 27th year of my life, it seems appropriate timing to be discussing New Beginnings. Before this can be accomplished, I feel we must first discuss past and present blessings. I have now lived in the Washington, DC area for four months. Nannying, living with four beautiful and prayerful women, enjoying the city itself and all of its appeal, as well as being near enough to home to be able to make it there whenever necessary or desired, have all been such treasured  gifts. Gifts that I will continue to enjoy for the next three months.

What happens after three months, you say? Well, at long last, the Lord is calling my name and whispering beckoning calls to my heart to come and join Him on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela (The Way of Saint James). As many of you know, this particular pilgrimage has been one of my heart’s desires for some time and now, it seems, the time has come for that desire to see fruition. Many might ask why anyone would have any longing to condense everything they might need to a weight no greater than 10% their body weight, throw it in a backpack and walk 780km (2560 ft) across Spain for a month. While I can’t speak for anyone else who has shared my crazy desire to do such a thing (people walk the Camino for many different reasons), I can tell you why I am going to do something seemingly ludicrous: AVAILABILITY.

Let me explain. If we are honest, it is difficult in this day and age to find time for silence, peace, and rest. We are surrounded by an array of distractions…some we could do without–tv, computers, internet, let’s be honest…all forms of technology– and others that are good, holy and beautiful parts of our lives–work, friends, social events, activities, family, etc. Now please do not misunderstand me I am not saying that any of these things are distractions in the negative sense of the word, especially the latter group, but simply that they are the things we give our hearts, minds, time, and energy to on a daily basis (again, as we rightly should). Perhaps I should arrive at my point. I am going on the Camino quite simply to make myself fully available to the Lord for five weeks. Many of us seek to make ourselves available to him in smaller increments of time on a regular basis, but I feel a longing for more. I feel him tugging at my heart and asking me to come and walk with him.

And so, on May 31, the Feast of the Visitation, I will depart for Spain where I hope to spend five weeks simply walking and listening.

Stay tuned for more about this missionary’s up and coming adventure!

“Delay not your conversion to the Lord, put it not off from day to day.” Sirach 5:7

No time like the present to Truly Live! God bless you all.