I Will Walk 2,600 Steps...
Because I love you all so much, and I want to show you the views from where I walked, I will later show pictures. Just not today because I am probably going to be walking around a lot today.
But the other day, I had free time before my Italian lesson, and I went for a stroll about a Catholic cemetery. Trust me, it couldn't have been less spooky since I went in broad daylight, and there were so many other people walking the grounds.
I could have planned better to bring my camera, and leave my laptop, but I wasn't fully aware of my day, so I had to lug this laptop in my backpack, with my scarf and jacket on, for 1,300 stairs, and back down again. So now you can sense my reservations for having to go back up to the top and take pictures of this place.
This place was massive, and if you haven't figured out the title by now, you can imagine what 2,600/1,300 steps looks like. It wasn't even that it was just straight up and down, these stairs went into old stone hallways covered for more memorial type graves. Flowers upon flowers, tall Cedar tree's growing in between tombs. I started to think I was at a garden show. There was one closed tomb area, plastered in stain glass and on the back side of this large glass tomb was a depiction of Jesus.
Up a few more feet was the next level of tombs. They were, what I would call, the more lavish examples of honoring the dead. The tombs were not small in number or in height, they stood in between tall Cedar trees, almost cold like. Marble etchings of names, dates, and people. Carved figures of a saint, or Mary. Completely lavish.
I wasn't even finished. That was probably the third tier of this cemetery, and the fourth plot was partially unfinished. It housed, yes, H O U S E D, some exemplary craftsmanship of a spiral staircase inside one of the tombs. I am not making this up. It looked like a lighthouse. A beacon of light for the dead. I managed to get up one level more, the last tier, looking upon a boasting cathedral-like tomb. A dome sat a top it, and the gates were locked, but the doors were opened. Inside was a memorialized picture sitting on an easel of a little boy, about 8 years old, that had passed away.
From the looks of the image, and a child's drawing hanging from the large portrayed picture, I could only think that this maybe was an accidental or senseless death. A lot of money and effort obviously went into this burial. I walked around the back of this tomb/memorial/cathedral/grave, and sat down to ponder burdens. The verse from Matthew also came to mind; 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
I had carried that backpack all the way up those stairs, and for what reason? I had things in that bag I thought I needed for the day, when in fact I didn't use any of it for where I was going. God would have taken that burden had I only walked 2 stairs, let alone 1,300 steps. We don't have to go our entire lives struggling with heaviness and burdens because we think it makes us stronger. Sometimes trials and tribulations do make us stronger, but what makes us ever more stronger, perhaps powerful, is having the strength to surrender the control of our burdens to God. What do we need with those burdens anyways? To complain to the world that we have them? To let us hide behind what we know we are capable of overcoming?
Just some bits and bobs to chew on this fine Saturday morning. I am off to Portofino with Jeanette, and some lovely students for the day.
But the other day, I had free time before my Italian lesson, and I went for a stroll about a Catholic cemetery. Trust me, it couldn't have been less spooky since I went in broad daylight, and there were so many other people walking the grounds.
I could have planned better to bring my camera, and leave my laptop, but I wasn't fully aware of my day, so I had to lug this laptop in my backpack, with my scarf and jacket on, for 1,300 stairs, and back down again. So now you can sense my reservations for having to go back up to the top and take pictures of this place.
This place was massive, and if you haven't figured out the title by now, you can imagine what 2,600/1,300 steps looks like. It wasn't even that it was just straight up and down, these stairs went into old stone hallways covered for more memorial type graves. Flowers upon flowers, tall Cedar tree's growing in between tombs. I started to think I was at a garden show. There was one closed tomb area, plastered in stain glass and on the back side of this large glass tomb was a depiction of Jesus.
Up a few more feet was the next level of tombs. They were, what I would call, the more lavish examples of honoring the dead. The tombs were not small in number or in height, they stood in between tall Cedar trees, almost cold like. Marble etchings of names, dates, and people. Carved figures of a saint, or Mary. Completely lavish.
I wasn't even finished. That was probably the third tier of this cemetery, and the fourth plot was partially unfinished. It housed, yes, H O U S E D, some exemplary craftsmanship of a spiral staircase inside one of the tombs. I am not making this up. It looked like a lighthouse. A beacon of light for the dead. I managed to get up one level more, the last tier, looking upon a boasting cathedral-like tomb. A dome sat a top it, and the gates were locked, but the doors were opened. Inside was a memorialized picture sitting on an easel of a little boy, about 8 years old, that had passed away.
From the looks of the image, and a child's drawing hanging from the large portrayed picture, I could only think that this maybe was an accidental or senseless death. A lot of money and effort obviously went into this burial. I walked around the back of this tomb/memorial/cathedral/grave, and sat down to ponder burdens. The verse from Matthew also came to mind; 28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
I had carried that backpack all the way up those stairs, and for what reason? I had things in that bag I thought I needed for the day, when in fact I didn't use any of it for where I was going. God would have taken that burden had I only walked 2 stairs, let alone 1,300 steps. We don't have to go our entire lives struggling with heaviness and burdens because we think it makes us stronger. Sometimes trials and tribulations do make us stronger, but what makes us ever more stronger, perhaps powerful, is having the strength to surrender the control of our burdens to God. What do we need with those burdens anyways? To complain to the world that we have them? To let us hide behind what we know we are capable of overcoming?
Just some bits and bobs to chew on this fine Saturday morning. I am off to Portofino with Jeanette, and some lovely students for the day.
Blake Stratton: I'm Gonna Be (5oo Miles Cover)
Blessings friends, thanks for reading. :)
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