Slice of Life Story Challenge and Spiritual Journey Thursday - What I Know For Sure - Walking with God

Doubling up today!
 

     It's Day 26 of the Slice of Life Story Challenge, started by Two Writing Teachers.  I am writing around the theme topic of "What I Know For Sure." (See Day 1 for a full explanation.)

I also look forward to Thursdays when I can publish thoughts on my spiritual journey and hear the thoughts of others on a weekly theme topic.  It has become a space for an encouraging and fortifying community to come together.  We welcome anyone who would like to join us! For the past couple of months, we've been writing around the One Little Words of our little community.  Feel free to join us on Thursdays if you'd like.  Let me know at @muellerholly.

 

This week we are writing about Mary Hill's OLW, EXERCISE

 

     I'm a walker.  I've tried other forms of exercise - yoga (don't even get me started on that one), running (ugh), Pilates, spinning, step class, Zumba, weight lifting, and on and on - but my favorite is walking.  I love to grab my iPhone, plug in my ear buds, and listen to an audio book while walking with my dog, Ben.  Shortly after we moved into this neighborhood, we went to a neighbor's house for a euchre party.  As we were making introductions, one of the men said, "Oh, you're the walker."  Yep.  That's me.  Another time a neighbor apologized to me because she had heard that her husband almost ran me over when it was dark outside!  She told him, "Honey, if it's between 6 and 8 p.m., Holly is out walking.  Be careful!"

     I've written about walking before.  There was the engagement walk I wrote about here after Libby got engaged and many posts on #ReadWalkWater, our walk that raises money for Water for South Sudan. 

     Walking has always been a part of my life.  I walked many miles hunting pheasants with my dad, walked around the campus of Miami University in the evenings even after walking to classes all day, and walked the trail near our house in Pittsburgh when we lived there.  One of the prerequisites of our future condo community was that it had to have a place to walk.  It does!  A beautiful walking trail surrounds the lake.  I walk in every season, at all points of the day, and on every vacation.  I'm looking forward to walking the beach on spring break!

    When I thought about today's One Little Word, I thought it might be difficult to find the spiritual aspect of exercise.  But when I thought about how my favorite form of exercise is walking, I thought of Jesus. Jesus was a walker, and we refer to walking when we talk about our faith.  We walk with God, embark on the Christian walk, walk through the Bible, and some participate in the Walk to Emmaus.  Jesus walked on water, walked from town to town, and walked to invite his disciples to follow Him.  He had dusty feet and worn sandals.  I like to think I would have dropped everything to walk with Him when He passed by.

"Walk in obedience to all that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess." - Deuteronomy 5:33

     What I Know For Sure: I admire people who run, do yoga, climb stairs, hop on the elliptical, and dance the night away.  But I'll always be a walker.  I like to walk outdoors, look up at the sky, breathe in fresh air, and stretch my legs. Someday, I'd like to walk beside Jesus, match His strong stride, ask Him questions, or just settle into a peaceful quiet, knowing it took awhile to get there, but I had finally walked all the way home.

     Thank you to the Spiritual Journey Thursday community  for lending your One Little Words to us.  It's not the end of the road - I will still be here with a theme topic each Thursday, but I will miss our OLW explorations!  Next week our theme topic will be Maundy Thursday.  See you then!