A Time to Walk

Sunny days in January, with temps at 66 degrees are a gift to appreciate.

Last week, here in northeast Georgia, it rained everyday and was miserably cold. Everyone was complaining about the weather. It was definitely dreary. The pattern finally broke just in time for the weekend. Yesterday, it was sunny and 66 degrees.

My kids complained about the balmy weather. They go to bed each night saying a prayer for a snow day. They both reminded me that I told them it was going to be a really cold and snowy winter. I assured them that winter was not nearly done with us. It’s only January. I tried to explain to them what a beautiful, warm, day or two in January is; it’s a gift.

I went for a walk even though I had a million things to do, so I could bask in the weather. I normally do a little running while I walk, to get my heart rate up, but not yesterday. It was too beautiful to run. I didn’t want to miss a minute. I wanted to drink it all in and really appreciate the gift.

Our lives are full of these unexpected and ordinary gifts, that really are extraordinary, but we are often running through life instead of walking and we miss them.

One night when the electricity went out, my family and I lit candles and played UNO. My kids still talk about that. It seemed like such a mundane thing to do at the time. It wasn’t. We could have sat around complaining. We could have missed it.

I set the alarm clock to wake us up earlier than we really have to get up on weekdays. It gives us extra time in the mornings and we don’t have to rush. When we rush through a morning, we get stressed. We forget things. We get annoyed with one another. When we can take our time, we sit down and eat breakfast together and talk. It seems so ordinary, but it’s a gift, one I appreciate more everyday as my teens literally grow up, right before my eyes.

We live in a world that tells us we need to run. I mean with all of the 13K and 26K stickers on what it seems like every car, I kind of feel like a slug sometimes for not running. Go faster. Work harder. Enter more races. Win more races.

Don’t get me wrong, running is a great way to stay in shape. But, when running is a way of life, perhaps we have gotten off track. Perhaps there’s another way.

Perhaps we should make some time to walk, to smell the roses, to drink in the beauty of the life we have been blessed with. I think we honor God when we take time to appreciate the many blessings we have and to give thanks. To do that, we simply have to take some time to slow down, walk and bask.

Each day is a gift. Let’s not miss a single moment.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂