I've already noted how crosses are everywhere on this trip, God's reminder of just how much he loved on me when he sent his son. Yesterday, there was a chain-linked fence where people had taken two sticks of all shapes and sizes and threaded them into the fence to look like crosses. Over and over again; there were over a thousand symbols of the lengths God was willing to love.
Probably the most famous cross on the camino is the Cruz Ferro in the Cantabrian Mountains, and true to tradition, I've been carrying my own "rock" for many kilometers now to leave at the foot of this cross. Only I didn't carry a rock. I chose a pottery shard. It's lighter, of course (heehee), but more importantly to me is all the symbolism I've come to attach to pottery, especially a la Romans 9. Pilgrims want the rock they leave at Cruz Ferro to represent a burden or something they want to let go of, but nothing like that had come to mind, so I wanted the shard to represent all of me - small, fragmented, vulnerable, not made for honorable use but yet still designed with purpose by the Maker.
It was early and still dawning when I arrived, but I found a quiet, little corner to meditate on Philippians 2 before adding my little pottery piece to the ginormous pile. Leaving myself at the foot of the cross. It was simple but beautiful, and I moved on singing "Oh the Wonderful Cross" in my head while I passed many more crosses and soaked in the Alpine experience of cowbells, Alm pathways, and distant stunning mountain vistas. (Words fail me to describe how happy my heart was and how badly I wanted the morning to last forever. Kristi will know.) Sadly, my little phone camera couldn't quite capture it all. The Brazilian in front of me with his XLRPFJQ something something mega super zoom 7 billion extra lens focus camera probably did. :-P
P. S. Thank you to all who have been praying for my feet. I'm down to only two Compeeds per foot and am happy to report that today I walked relatively pain free for all 27 km! My pace has definitely increased, and I don't cringe on rocky downhill paths anymore. Hallelujah!
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