Flowers out of Rock

I wrote this paragraph some weeks ago as I reflected on my reasons for walking again- (and it is posted below in Moments of pilgrimage).

The memory of seeing a flower bursting forth out of rock

and the celebration it wrought in my heart

seems like a reason to walk again

as if somehow this healing is important for more than just me.

The day in my mind about which I wrote these lines was a special day, a healing day- just after I had taken a rest day in Estaing to recuperate a little from blisters. I knew renewed joy as I walked more freely in the welcome sunshine, past spring flowers, until suddenly I saw some flowers growing so improbably out of rock- and it seemed like a miracle.

This weekend I did my first 20km 'training walk' and I knew a similar joy. I was retracing a road near town that I had walked along many times in 2007-8 as I trained for the Camino.  And suddenly I saw some spring clematis spiralling down in front of a rocky road cutting. It was a sight of beauty, another wee miracle to be thankful for. A sight of beauty to hold in the memory of the heart and soul.

Native clematis in springtime on Kahuterawa Rd, near Palmerston North

And I think these flowers are kind of like an arrow- the joy they bring shows that walking in the countryside is the right thing for me to do...