THE PRACTICE OF WALKING
Photo by Bekir Uğur: https://www.pexels.com/photo/empty-pathway-between-trees-3660915/
Buen Camino! I heard this many times over the past few weeks as I passed pilgrims on the ancient path known as the Camino Frances. Myself along with a group of 10 others walked 130 miles over 8 days. There is something that happens to us when we walk with intention. Not for exercise, not for accomplishment, but for opening our soul to God.
For my 50th birthday, my family got me a silver bracelet made by a special friend Henry who was a neighbor where we used to live. Henry was a gifted jeweler. I had him stamp feet on the inside that remind me of a powerful truth in life: THAT THE WAY IS MADE BY WALKING.
There is something about walking that makes a way to all of life. Our body has been intuitively longing to walk since we took our first steps. No one really taught you how to walk. You were carried everywhere for a bit, then you crawled, and then you somehow had in that tiny baby body of yours an urge to walk and you knew without words how to slowly do it and that it would open up a whole new world to you for the rest of your life.
But we take walking for granted. Imagine for a moment that you couldn’t walk. I have a friend with brain cancer right now whose ability to walk has been challenged greatly. I have friends who are confined to wheel chairs. Our bodies long to walk as they long for God. Walking is a gift and grace that we have been given. I don’t know about you but their is a greater pull to sit and veg than walk in my life. We know that walking in and of itself is great for our physical body. There are so many benefits to just walking. Studies have shown that walking can
Help you maintain a healthy weight
Improve heart health, lower blood pressure
strengthen immune system
protect bones and relief joint pain
aid digestion
boost energy and enhance sleep
spark creativity
alleviate or decrease depression and fatigue
improve endurance
But it’s great for our soul….
Walking is our embodied practice of following Jesus. Many religions have some form of embodied way of living out there religion. Meditation for the Buddhists, yoga for the Hindus, but walking reminds us of the bibles metaphor that our life with God is actually a long walk. Eugene Peterson describes it as taking a long walk in the same direction.
From the first walk in the garden of eden, to Psalm 23 being led as we walk to various places with the shepherd, to Jeremiah 6 which invites us to stop, look and walk in the good path-to Jesus invitation to follow me, meaning walk with me, to paul’s challenge to walk in a worthy manner that we have been called.
Walking can slow the speed of our soul down. Japanese philosopher Kusuki Kokomo writes that the pace of love is 3mph…that this was Jesus pace as he walked day after day with people and alone. Not only does something open up in us physically but when we walk something happens in us with God if we let it. Walking slows me down to be with Jesus maybe more than anything else. Our souls are being sucked into warp speed and we need something to draw us back to slowing our souls. Walking can do that.
As we were coming into Astorga Spain after 16 long miles, my wife Christy said, no one can walk the path my feet walk. Over the 130 miles, we walked over mountains, down mountains, by streams, through woods, along the path of highways, thru cities, on rocky slippery muddy paths, and out in the countryside. The journey had many twists and turns, mountain tops and valleys.
As I ponder what Christy said, it seems so significant that not only will your life journey have all those things as you walk, but you and you alone will have to walk them in a way that no one else can. But if the metaphor for following Jesus truly is walking than we can be assured that Jesus is walking with us.
Practice: Soul Walking
-reminds me that God isnt in a hurry
-it helps me pay attention to the spirit nudging, the spirit has a different way to access me to help see what is in front of me: Walking is a form of paying attention: a way of being attentive to things right before us
-it allows me to feel more deeply, think more clearly
-it allows me time to talk and listen
-to think things our and sort things out
-it allows me to change my mind
- it reminds me that all the topography of my life belongs and each has a gift
Soren Kierkegaard, a Danish theologian wrote, “Above all, do not lose your desire to walk. Every day, I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness. I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it.”
During Lent this year, I embarked on a 40 day, 40 mile, 40 question walk put together by Stephen Smith of the Potters Inn. It caught me by surprise how walking with one question as a way of centering my time with Jesus can allow for layers of meaning and depth to emerge. In this type of walking, we take one question and let the question unfold as you walk, reflect and pray.
Good questions help us expose what is inside of us and good questions invite us to go deeper. As we “live the questions” we will take the time to ponder and pray over what bubbles up in our hearts. It could lead to tears of grief or joy. It may invite you to lament or praise. Trust the process and trust in the slow work of this exercise.
So I invite you to practice this spiritual rhythm of soul walking by taking 1 question, 1 mile, 1x a day for 10 days. Let the one question be the focus of your walk. Here are 10 questions for you to use, one per day but you can make your own questions up. Avoid the temptation to try to “do” more than one question a day. Linger with each question and think through angles, perspectives and cellular depth that the question will take you. Resist the temptation and urge to problem solve or fix what you discover that may be broken. Just become curious and more aware and accepting of what comes to you during this time.
10 QUESTIONS
What am I being invited to let go of?
Where does Jesus seem to be lingering on the outskirts of my soul? (body, emotion, thoughts)
What are my current longings and are they pointing me toward Jesus or away from Him?
Where do I feel most vulnerable?
Where does Jesus want to shape my character most these days?
What truths is my body speaking to me right now?
What has lied dormant in me that I need to awaken to?
What am I most curious about in my story?
What feels missing in my life right now?
Why am I alive?