A Call to Walk

Sometimes we are called to walk.

I injured my back a couple of weeks ago doing yard work. I’m not exactly sure what I did, but it really hurt. For the next week, I took a ton of ibuprofen and kept a heating pad on it. I wasn’t able to exercise at all.

After about ten days, I was feeling better, not completely healed, but better. I reasoned that I should be able to walk. I’ve read that walking is supposed to be good for just about anything that ails us. As I put on my tennis shoes and stretched a little, I promised myself that I would not run.

It was a beautiful day outside. The heat had finally broken and there was a breeze. I felt grateful to be outside and to be moving. As I got warmed up, I reached the first mailbox where I usually start my first sprint. It’s at the top of a hill and I really had to force myself not to run.

I found that to be the case all through my walk. I suppose when you live in the same place for twelve years and you walk on the same path, you form habits. Some are good and some are bad. Some are good for a particular season and not so good for other seasons.

I felt the urge to run because I always had. But, I knew, that if I ran at this point, I could re-injure my back and go back to all of that pain. Still, I found the self-control to be a struggle.

I thought about that walk long after I was finished and the deeper lesson that I knew God was trying to teach me.

There are times in our lives that God wants us to slow down. Sometimes we know the reason. We could be coming through a season of constantly being busy. We could be coming through a season of sickness, or grief, or change, or maybe even growth.

Sometimes we don’t know the reason. We find ourselves praying fervently for movement, but nothing seems to happen.

The key is remembering that although we may not know why we are being called to walk and not run, God knows. He has a reason and His timing is always impeccable, even when we don’t understand. That’s what we call trust and obedience.

A walk reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂