coronavirus

We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.
I have plans – and air tickets – and a bus ticket – and hostel bookings.
And then coronavirus came along.
At first it didn’t seem it would affect my plans particularly.
But then there was a case in Spain.
And soon there were over one hundred.
It was time to check with the insurance company. What exactly did that small print about epidemics and pandemics mean?
I have discovered they will pay up if the government issues a DO NOT TRAVEL TO SPAIN mandate or the airline cancels flights. This is reassuring.
At this point – seven weeks out from traveling – there are no warnings to avoid Spain. Qatar is still flying. Hospitaleros on the ground have decided to open albergues and offer hospitality as they have done for the past thousand-plus years.
Some say it would be selfish to walk, to potentially carry a bug, and I have been considering this view.
I have also thought about the economic impact on those little villages that largely rely on pilgrims for their livelihood – when one considers THAT, it seems selfish NOT to walk.

There is nothing else I can do right now.
So I wait.
I pray for those impacted.
I surrender.
I hope.
And I make a little progress each day on what I had envisioned would be my next camino blanket, one commemorating spring flowers in bright green fields merging into summer flowers in darker greens.
Like all my blankets, this one has a story being woven into it.
Right now it looks like a disconnected mishmash of possibility….even though I’m only weeks out from my Camino I feel disconnected from it. There’s enough uncertainty for the possibility to not eventuate into reality, so it feels natural to keep a little emotional distance in order to minimise disappointment.
This blanket is risky; creatively-speaking, I don’t know if the idea in my head is actually going to work….the Camino might be risky too.
The blanket is full of flowers declaring bright hope….I am creating in the hope that I will walk, whilst simultaneously offering the camino-possibility as a bouquet to God for Him to use as He chooses.
The blanket is full of gentle flowers of peace blowing in the wind….I rest in the peace that God orders my steps.
The loose ends poking out of the blanket – the Camino uncertainty poking out just the same – make me sensitive to that which has always been the truth – on our own, we do nothing; we walk only if God is willing. (Proverbs 16:9)