“Often she felt as though she had been picked up and turned about like a kaleidoscope, that all her complacent assumptions had been shaken up and reassembled in a different order.”
— Judith Lennox
I know how “she” felt! Today has been a day of having my assumptions exposed and proven wrong. Many of my preconceived notions surprised me by the very fact of their existence. Allow me please, in the spirit of humility and transformation, to share a few things I have learned today.
1. Not all gift shops in churches are inappropriate commercial ventures.
At San Felipe de Neri in Albuquerque I was surprised by the very reasonable prices on everything in the shop. When I commented on this, Steve, who appeared to be the manager, told me he viewed the shop as a ministry. Not only is it to raise funds for the maintenance of the church, but it is also a means to get religious goods into the hands of those who can be blessed by them. He readily accepted that I was a Benedictine sister and was pleased that I could pursue religious life as a married woman. He even gave me a discount because I was a sister to “bless your ministry”. Rachel, his assistant, gave us a lovely tour of their small museum. And Gene, who was working on a ladder in the shop, joined in the conversation.
2. One old church is not pretty much like another.
There may be some architectural similarities. But each church has its own unique features and history. At San Miguel de Socorro there is a local legend that during an Apache raid an angel appeared and scared off the attackers. And so the church was named for Saint Michael the Archangel who is believed to have saved the village.
3. The desert is not brown.
At least not mostly. At least in the part of New Mexico through which we traveled. In fact, we were stunned at how green it was. There were many obviously irrigated fields. But there was also a surprising amount of trees. Most appeared to be growing naturally. But what really caught us off guard were the pecan groves. Who knew that New Mexico is the country’s fourth largest producer of pecans?!?
4. There is apparently a good bit of water in the desert.
We saw a few lakes and plenty of standing water. It had just rained yesterday. Still, I would have expected the dry desert soil to soak up water like a sponge. We even passed a wetlands protection area south of Albuquerque.
5. The population of New Mexico and Arizona is not made up only of people of Native American or Spanish descent.
In fact, we learned that there is a sizable Czech community. They came to the southwest because of the agricultural opportunity. Again, who knew?!? (I don’t have a picture for this point, but just wait for the next one…)
6. Rocks are definitely not boring.
OK, I knew this. I did come close to minoring in Geology, after all. But we discovered a gem of a museum on the beautiful campus of New Mexico Tech in Socorro. (See what I did there? LOL!) The Mineralogy Museum houses a collection that rivals that of the Smithsonian. There were amazing samples of minerals of every size, shape, and color. We could have stayed for hours! I wonder if Jesus had these sorts of rocks in mind when He said that if His disciples were silent “the very stones would cry out”. (Luke 19:40) We marveled at the incredible variety and smiled thinking how much fun God must have had hiding all this beauty inside humble rocks. I wonder if He had even more fun hiding even more stunning beauty inside humble people? What do we need to do, what are we willing to do to uncover that beauty?
7. Cheap wine can be plenty good!
We stumbled upon Luna Rossa Winery in Deming, New Mexico. We were ready for a break and so we went in for a tasting. Most tastings out here are a bit pricey, but Luna Rossa turns out to be the only winery in New Mexico to offer a free tasting. Who knew?!? And the wine was fabulous! Only a couple were more than $20 per bottle, also unusual for New Mexico. Plus…one of my favorites was called “Nini”, the name we called my grandmother. Of course, I had to buy a bottle in her honor, right?
8. John’s Aunt Diana was not too worn out to see us.
Coming to see her was the whole reason for even beginning to think about making this trip. But she is in the end stages of cancer, so we really expected, especially by the end of the day, that she wouldn’t be up for much. In fact, since we rolled into Benson after dinner time, we expected that she’d want to wait until tomorrow to see us. Nope! She wanted us to come right over to her house. We enjoyed a good long visit before settling into our hotel.
“A tornado of thought is unleashed after each new insight,” says Vera Nazarian. “This in turn results in an earthquake of assumptions. These are natural disasters that reshape the spirit.”
I began this journey looking to be transformed. I was cautioned not to have expectations but to be open to God’s working whatever transformation He desired. I’m only a few days into my pilgrimage. Some of the transformations I’ve noted have been subtle. Others I suspect won’t be fully appreciated until long after I return, if then. But, as I was told today by Steve at the San Felipe de Neri gift shop, “When you are on a pilgrimage, everything is a prayer.” Yes, Steve! Thanks for helping me remember.