Backpacking across Spain was something I had never envisioned myself doing. Sure, I enjoy a nice walk around the neighborhood or exploring a new place, but traveling internationally only to carry all that I brought on my back for 15-plus miles a day wasn’t exactly a bucket list item. Yet, I found myself doing just that last summer and the experience exceeded my expectations on all levels, so much so that we are planning to do it again!  

The trip was much more than just hiking for us. It was a part of our family’s long awaited summer sabbatical and the route that we chose was a Spiritual Pilgrimage called the Camino de Santiago. The entire route takes well over a month to complete but for our schedule’s sake, we settled on walking the last 100 kilometers which took us just over a week.  

Each day we would get up, pack our newly purchased hiking backpacks, lace up our Amazon-ordered shoes, and step out into the fresh air, unsure of what the day held. Our task was simple. All we had to do was walk, head up, watching for the next yellow arrow along the well-marked path. We walked through quaint towns that dotted the beautiful countryside, under low hanging grape vineyards, along babbling brooks and forested paths. It was a string of days where we could truly and simply ‘be.’ We had no responsibilities, no dishes to do or errands to run.  No job to tend to or phone calls to return. There was a simplicity beyond simplicity that was the Camino and around every corner of the hike we encountered wonder, awe, and beauty. 100 kilometers later, as we arrived at the end point and stood in the shadow of the towering cathedral where St. James’ bones are rumored to be kept; we were forever changed. The pilgrimage truly was a spiritual experience for us. It renewed us in body, mind, and soul.  

We all have sacred places in our lives, a place where the veil between heaven and earth seems just a bit thinner. Perhaps it’s an actual location or maybe it’s an experience like walking oceanside or floating in a kayak in the middle of a lake. Wherever that place is for you, there is a simplicity and beauty that accompanies those places. When you are there, nothing else really matters, or at least not as much. Things feel different here. It’s as though you are standing on Holy ground. A moment of the soul. A calming of the mind.  

Did you know that Jesus had places like these? That in his fully human state, as the world around him buzzed with complexity and need, He often slipped away to these places. To the quiet, to the simple. To places where the veil felt a little more thin and He was recharged with the simplicity of the Father’s love and reminded of the simplicity of the Gospel (read Mark 1:35,  Mark 6:44-47, or Matthew 14:22-23 for some examples).

In our cluttered, fast-paced lives we often tend to make our relationship with Jesus more complicated than it needs to be. Maybe we find ourselves ‘doing’ more than ‘loving,’ or ‘knowing’ more than ‘being.’ Our intentions get mixed up and we forget just how powerfully simple the Gospel and God’s love really is. It is often these sacred places that can help bring us back to that truth.  

So where is your sacred place? Do you have a few? Maybe it’s time to slip away there once again to be simply reminded of God’s deep love.  

1 John 4:16 “And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.  God is love.  Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.”