Looking for Beauty

As the morning mist began to clear I could see him walking in the distance. No matter how early I began my pilgrimage there always seemed to be someone ahead of me.

I began to catch up with the stranger, and, as I did, I noticed that there was something different about his walk. Getting closer and closer I first noticed his limp, then his crutches, and then his prosthetic leg.

I was going to pass by with just a pleasant good morning. I wasn’t in the mood for a long conversation. He had just sat down on a stone fence as I passed. “Buen Camino” I said to him. He responded with the same and a smile. There was something about his smile that made me pause and sit next to him.

Greggory is from Poland. This wasn’t his first Camino, but it was his longest. He has a disease that took his leg. During his first Camino, Greggory had walked with a German woman whose husband made prosthetics. She invited him to Germany after his walk to get one made just for him. He told me how excited he was and how much easier life was going to be.

And then Greggory got Covid. Bad. In a coma and on a ventilator, things did not look good. But as Greggory described it, a miracle happened – he woke up. And yet something was different. It took him a while to realize he was now blind in one eye. To make a long story short, he has been told that he will eventually lose sight in his other eye, and, if that wasn’t bad enough, he is probably going to lose his other leg as well.

Faced with the reality of his future, Greggory decided he would spend what little health he had left walking. And so he did. 500 miles up and over the Pyrenees, through endless sunflower fields, and amidst the hills of Galicia, Greggory simply wanted to walk.

I asked him why he chose to do this as his last journey with health. It wasn’t lost on either of us that “health” meant one eye and a prosthetic leg. He responded with one word, “Beauty.”

Greggory wanted to see and experience beauty. He described the beauty of the scenery – the mountains, the fields, the vineyards. He talked about the beauty of the food and the culture. But most of all he talked about the beauty he saw in the people he met along the way. Through his broken English, which was slightly better than my Polish, he talked about beauty. He talked with his eyes as much as with his words.

We exchanged information, said a quick prayer together, and then I moved on. But in many ways Greggory stuck with me.

Look for beauty.

Greggory has so many reasons to be bitter, so many reasons to focus his one eye on the issues that constantly plague him. And yet he has chosen to look for beauty. He didn’t need me to point out the hand he had been dealt. He didn’t need me to get him to ask the “God” questions that arise from his life. He’s not naive. He is well aware of his situation. He lives his reality every day. And yet, he has chosen to look for beauty.

I wonder how many of our pilgrimages are currently taking us through difficult spaces? Not Greggory-difficult, but hard and ugly nonetheless. In the United States we are in the middle of an ugly Presidential election, an assassination attempt, and bitter court disputes. In the church we are seeing denominational infighting and schisms, even as we hemorrhage our young people. And who knows what is going on in our own lives? If I am honest, there are times when it’s hard not to be consumed by the ugly. But Greggory reminds me again and again that although the ugly is real, beauty still remains.

This week I made an effort to see the world through Greggory’s good eye. I saw beauty around a fire at the church campout where older members of our congregation played board games with children. I saw it in the bright blue eyes of our new puppy who just wants to love and play. I saw it in coffee shops during conversations with old friends who checked in with me after I acknowledged my struggles in last week’s blog. I saw it in church members who showed up at 6:45 AM to move our worship service to an alternate location due to the rain. I saw it in the wife who continues to care for her husband in the midst of yet another health setback. Over and over again, I was reminded that beauty is still ever present even in the midst of real ugliness. I just need to keep looking.

Beauty is all around us. Sometimes we find it in nature’s landscapes. Other times we see it in our loved ones. And, sometimes beauty looks like a one legged, one eyed guy sitting on a stone fence.

Thanks for showing me the way Greggory. You are truly beautiful.

Image by Kev from Pixabay