A happy, happy moment and a lesson learned

A friend who volunteers here with the pilgrims’ office in Santiago leaves regularly some boxes with me. Things he doesn’t need at home, but needs when back here in Santiago. Today I put away those boxes and found something astonishing…

Many months back I hosted a pilgrim who gave me the little basket shown in the photo above made by https://www.facebook.com/gypsea.eco/. It is made out of recycled fisher nets collected at the Costa de Morte, the Galician coast. I loved it, I cherished it, but I thought I had lost it. Today as I stored away my friends’ boxes, I found the blue basket in an empty card board box. I now know how this had happened:

When I first set up our welcome tea point at the ecumenical centre, I carried over a water kettle; for safe keeping in its own cardboard box. And the little blue basket in it. I put a scallop shell on top of that to use it as a donativo basket. But when it was time to go home, I realised that was just wrong. A Christian welcome should never, ever be connected to money – even if it is ‘just’ a donation basket. Freely we have received and freely we should give … So I put the little blue basket back in the empty water kettle card board box and carried both home. And stored the box under the stair case.

And forgot to take the little blue basket out. Thought it lost. Even, I admit, sometimes I thought somebody sneaked into the Ecumenical Centre whilst I was not looking and snitched it.

I was wrong.

It is back.

I learned my lesson.

People are good.

And btw both of the pilgrims connected to this story are called Tom …