A Word About Walking

My wife and I are trying to get into a new habit. She’s been doing some physical therapy, and one of the things that has been suggested is she would do well to take a short walk as often as she can. She asked me if I would like to join her, and of course, I said, ‘Yes.’ We don’t walk too fast. We don’t walk too far. Just down our lane to our mailbox and back. But we’re trying to get into the routine of walking, every chance we get, and I had no idea how much I would enjoy it until we actually began to walk together.

Turns out that walking has a powerful potential, not only as a health benefit, but as a soul and relational enhancement. As my wife and I walk in the mornings, we talk. Somehow, walking and talking sort of go together. And we notice things, too. We notice things that we don’t notice when we’re riding along in our car. Occasionally, as we walk along, one of our neighbors passes us, driving along our little lane. We wave. They wave. But we don’t stop to talk to them. They don’t stop to talk to us. Cars separate us, I think. I’ve got my car. You’ve got yours. I’ve got my lane. You’ve got yours. Scenes are flying by, and my concentration when I’m in my car is on the road ahead. It’s not on you and how your walk in life is going. But when I’m walking with my wife, it’s different. If you pay attention, you can notice when you’re on a walk that your neighbor’s house looks like it may need a new roof. When we go for our walk, we notice that annoying barking dog who runs along the fence as we walk by? We see the weeds that have sprung up on the little lane we I drive along every day that’s less than a block from our house.

When my wife and I are walking, there seems to be more time for interesting and insightful conversations. Opportunity for imagining, and understanding, and hearing what’s going on in life. Time for sharing joy, and sorrow, and journey stories, and life. The Bible in Amos, chapter 3 asks, “Can two walk together unless they’re agreed?” Obviously, when we walk in the mornings, we decide which direction to head. But that verse is not just about direction—it’s about connection. And I like to think there’s no better opportunity for connection than the slow and intentional exercise of taking a walk.

The wise writer of Ecclesiastes wrote that,  “a cord of three strands is not quickly broken.” A walk with three who are in agreement on life and its challenges is the very best kind of walk. We’ve only been walking down to the mailbox for a few weeks, but we’ve been walking together with Jesus for our entire marriage. We’re enjoying our time together walking in the mornings, Randee and me and the third conversationalist in our journey, the Lord Jesus Christ? We’re already noticing things about each other, and God and His world that aren’t readily seen, if we’re in too big a hurry racing along. The soul  benefit of that kind of eternal therapy simply can’t be measured.