Learning to Walk

I simply forgot how wonderful it was. Walking that is. Over the last several months, admittedly, I slipped out of the routine and habit of taking a morning walk after taking the kids to daycare. There was one morning when the rain was coming down and I decided not to walk in the rain. Then, the next morning I was running late and had somewhere to be so I did not walk. I arose the third day with intentions of walking but the plan was derailed before even leaving the house. By the fourth day, the train of thought was, “Andrew, you have not walked all week, why start back now?”

But I missed it. Taking a morning walk is a wonderful thing. I have been reminded of how wonderful it is because in the last few days the walks have resumed. Staring off walking down the sidewalk in Boiling Springs before winding through the campus of the university, I have regained an appreciation for this daily practice.

One of the things I had not realized just how much I’d missed was the prayerful reflection that would take place on the walk. Those morning walks are quiet. They are reflective. They are meaningful in my own walk with God. It is a time for conversation with my Maker and a time for listening to His voice.

It has been great to get back to walking each morning as a means of exercising my body and my spirit. It is also great to be back among nature. That might be one of the most incredible aspects of the morning walk for me. Seeing the squirrels run, gather, and play. Watching the geese as they glide across the water. Feeling the mist of the fountain as it sprays upward, high above my head, and droplets of water being caught by the morning spring breeze only to be caught by resting on my cheek. There is something worshipful about walking through God’s creation.

My walk does not seem complete though without earbuds headphones in and some soft music playing from my phone. It tends to be some of the same music each morning and one of the hymns is “This Is My Father’s World.” I love the old hymn as it resembles so much of Psalm 104. There the 116 year old words of Maltbie Babcock and the words of the psalmist that are far, far older collide in joyous agreement in praise to God for God’s creation.

However, it was on the first day of walking again that I heard the voice of God speak in one of the clearest ways. There I was, walking through my favorite spot where the maples and oaks are like skyscrapers reaching heavenward giving plenty of room for the birds, and listening to this hymn. Quite often – and you might be the same way – when a hymn is playing I instinctively sing. As I walked through this wooded area, I was singing:

            This is my Father’s world,

The birds their carols raise;

The morning light, the lily white

Declare their Maker’s praise

This is my Father’s world,

He shines in all that’s fair;

In the rustling grass I hear Him pass

He speaks to me everywhere.

As I was signing this verse of the hymn, I could hear the birds singing in the trees that reached high above me. I could hear squirrels rustling the grass as they scurried from one place to another. It was as if the hymn I was singing was being lived out before my eyes and within my heart. It was nearly too much to bear.

I stopped walking, took the headphones out of my ears and heard within my soul, “Good. You took stopped singing about my presence in creation and are going to take time to be with me in creation. Truth be told – I’d missed that! My soul longed to hear the voice of God like that.

The psalmist writes:

“[God] makes springs pour water into the ravines; it flows between the mountains. They give water to all the beasts of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst. The birds of the air nest by the waters; they sing among the branches.” –Psalm 104:10-12

I had stepped out of the habit of walking each morning and did not realize just how much it fed and nourished my soul. My routine found all kinds of ways to pull me away from the blessedness of exercising my body and soul. Then when I started walking again each morning, taking the headphones out of my ears to fully hear the presence of God in the simplest of ways, well that was just as powerful.

Sometimes we get out of the habit of something that feeds and nourishes our souls. We don’t intend to get out of the routine, but we do. Then when we step back into it, we are reminded of what we have been missing. But still, there is another step. When we get back into the rhythm of walking, we need to remove the distractions that keep us from being fully present to the moment.

To be honest, the song of the birds was a much, much sweeter song than the song playing on my phone – even though the song on my phone has lyrics that speak of the singing birds. The light beaconing through the trees was much brighter than the descriptive language in the song. I think we would all do well to remember that the holiest of moments are nearly missed because we have simply stopped intentionally making room for God to show up and speak. They are also missed because we are too busy in our walk with God that we miss out on God in our walk.

-->

We are walking into the summer months. This is a time of year when our routines change and our schedules shift. May the grace of God keep us walking with Him and Him in our walks. Maybe each of us need to look for ways margin in our lives can be given to God. For God to speak. Gently. Sweetly. Holy.

Walking...

-ASR