There’s a quiet shift happening in me as the Camino draws near.
I’ve noticed how easy it is — even in preparing for something sacred — to begin building expectations. Expectations about the route, the scenery, the weather. But even more so, expectations about the experience:
What insights I’ll gain.
How I’ll feel.
What spiritual revelations might unfold.
But the closer I get, the more I realize:
Expectations can harden into demands.
And demands leave very little room for surprise.
I’m reminded that pilgrimage isn’t about scripting the sacred.
It’s about making space — space to be surprised by grace, to be met in the quiet, to be transformed by something I didn’t plan.
The Spirit doesn’t follow an itinerary.
The holiest moments often come softly, humbly — through a smile from a fellow pilgrim, the stillness of a morning fog, or the ache in your feet that makes you pay attention.
So I’m learning to expect less… and receive more.
I want to walk into this pilgrimage with open hands.
To notice what’s freely given.
To welcome the quiet gifts of the road.
Because often, it’s the unscripted moments that change us most.
Today’s Reflection:
- Where in your life are expectations quietly turning into demands?
- Can you let go of some of those expectations and make space for surprise?
- What would it look like to receive this season—this day, this walk—as a gift?
A Blessing for Letting Go
God of the unexpected,
I release my grip on how things should be—
on the moments I thought I needed,
on the outcomes I tried to plan.
Teach me to walk with open hands.
To trust that grace will find me
not in the grand or the perfect,
but in the ordinary steps
and unscripted pauses of the day.
May I be surprised by joy.
Softened by mercy.
And available to wonder.
And when the path shifts or slows,
let me receive it—not with resistance—
but with holy curiosity.
Amen.