Castles and Bothies

I like to watch Netflix while I'm cooking. At the moment I'm watching a documentary series on castles in Britain. It's a fascinating history with hints of intrigue and skullduggery.
Some of the great castles took decades to build, had new buildings, towers and turrets added on and, all told, building would be in progress for a couple of centuries.  It was the long haul. The king or prince who started the work would likely never see its end.
Jane and I have also been listening to a Dick Francis audiobook. It's set in Scotland, and the protagonist is an artist who lives in a bothy. Bothies are primitive stone shepherd's huts, often built high on the hills to offer protection when the weather turns. Bothies wouldn't take too long to build, but were built very sturdy. Centuries old bothies are currently being renovated and used as tourist getaways.

I have been struck by the comparison ... castles and bothies. Grandeur, strength, centuries in the making, and small, protection against the elements, primitive not too difficult to erect. There's something quite romantic about both types of stone dwellings. Wandering around old castle ruins, I have wondered what it must have been like to live in one. But on a cold, winter's walk in the hills, with the wind bearing down and the threat of snow, a bothy has much appeal.
Both dwellings suggest endurance, longevity, long-lastingness: Castles in the sheer number of years and quite likely millions of "man hours" to construct; bothies in their resilience against the elements over a couple hundred years.
Both dwellings speak to me about my spiritual path. I have realized that anything of deep spiritual value takes time to construct. Spirituality runs contra to the tenor of our times when we want everything more or less instantly. I've grown so used to Amazon prime—ordered one day, second day delivery—that anything over two days seems like forever. I grow impatient.
Though the verb "to endure"has negative connotations, spiritual practice does have a large endurance quality. You practice today, and tomorrow, and the next day, and the day after, and so on. Each day of practice adds incrementally to the building. Day to day you do not see much difference. But after a year, five years, ten years, twenty years, fifty years, the building takes shape. And the building will likely not be finished in one lifetime.  Like building a castle my spiritual journey is in it for the long haul.
The bothy, as a safe haven from the elements, speaks of spirituality, too, for my spiritual practice is my bothy, my place of safety, my retreat. It's my hide out from the world. Sometimes I need that. It's not too fancy, not grand in any sense, but it's just what I need when the snow clouds threaten. I hope you have a spiritual bothy too!
+Ab. Andy

Pics; Bothy http://www.mountainbothies.org.uk/about.asp Sterling castle http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/stirling/stirlingcastle/