An Evening Walk ~ by Sharon
A few evenings ago I took the dogs for a walk. It’s not my normal routine, but with the gym closed I desperately needed to get out and get some exercise. I had to force myself to do it. By then it had been a long week-even though it was only Tuesday-and I just wanted to fall on the couch, zone out to some classic TV and go to sleep. At work meetings had been planned, then moved, then cancelled, then rescheduled online trying to duck and weave around Covid-19. Outside of work it was the same boxing match: trying to figure out how to avoid something that can’t be seen, or heard, and might already be everywhere.
Everything takes so much thought now:
- Did I wash my hands for the required 20 seconds?
- If I get exposed, how do I isolate myself in the home I share with my senior citizen (don’t tell her I called her that) mom?
- How do I make the one jug of Lysol we have last?
- Does the young man who brought my internet-ordered groceries to the car have it?
- Where is the line between responsible planning and worry?
My brain is so tired and it’s still so early into this bizarre new way of life.
Here’s what happened on the walk though:
– A pair of pileated woodpeckers made their way up the trunk of an oak tree.
– A couple of squirrels chased each other across the grass.
– The neighbor’s dog threw the same fit she always throws when someone walks by.
Normalcy.
It’s still there; I just have to look for it a little more deliberately now. The instant those two woodpeckers crossed my line of vision God reminded about the birds. There they were in front of me: cared for.
You and I, He says are “much more valuable than they” (Matthew 6:26).
That has not changed. If the worst happens, whatever that is, His care for us has not changed.
The choice I have to make is to trust that even when this gets harder, as it almost certainly will. I have to make the choice to seek out the reminders, and to go for a walk.
One Reply to “An Evening Walk ~ by Sharon”
Sharon, it is amazing how God places things in our path to let us see him. Thank you for this post!