One More Surprise

October 17, 2022

“When the evening gently closes in, and you shut your weary eyes, I’ll be there as I have always been with just one more surprise.” ~ From Borning Cry, John Ylvisaker

Our group paused just before we turned the corner to enter the cathedral square in Santiago de Compostela .We’d walked for nine days to get here.  The eight of us had become a community. We would walk the final meters together.

What happened next was totally unexpected. I caught the haunting sound of a bagpipe. My Scots heritage, my parents’ reverence for the sound, the piper who played Amazing Grace 5 months ago to the day for my sister Carol’s Celebration of Life, flooded into my heart. Tears flooded my vision.

We walked around the corner, stepped out of the shade into the stunning brilliance of the white stone walls of the cathedral under the clear blue sky. The mixture of joy, grief, gratitude, love,  and sadness that the hike was over could not be contained.  

People hugged, laughed, cried, sat, and sprawled on ancient pavement stones.  Many, like me, removed their shoes. It was a “holy ground moment,” one that “just so happened”.

Walking, praying, sharing with friends, giving kindness to strangers and receiving the same back, drinking in the beauty of nature, breaking bread around a table, life itself is holy. The process of pilgrimage requires and rewards attention and awareness. May I be attentive and aware, a pilgrim every day of my life. ~ Anne

Borning Cry – John Ylvisaker

“I was there to hear your borning cry, I’ll be there when you are old. I rejoiced the day you were baptized, to see your life unfold.

I was there when you were but a child, with a faith to suit you well; In a blaze of light you wandered off to find where demons dwell.”

“When you heard the wonder of the Word I was there to cheer you on; You were raised to praise the living Lord, to whom you now belong.

If you find someone to share your time and you join your hearts as one, I’ll be there to make your verses rhyme from dusk ’till rising sun.”

In the middle ages of your life, not too old, no longer young, I’ll be there to guide you through the night, complete what I’ve begun.

When the evening gently closes in, and you shut your weary eyes, I’ll be there as I have always been with just one more surprise.”

“I was there to hear your borning cry, I’ll be there when you are old. I rejoiced the day you were baptized, to see your life unfold.”