WALK

Walking is the favorite activity allowed during the corona confinement.  We all know the rules. Stay six feet apart and stay in your neighborhood.  We walk up to the mail box and hope we aren't meeting a neighbor that we have to consciously stay away from.  As the days get longer and warmer here in Northwestern Canada more children play on their driveways or in their back yards.  I'm wondering what families who live in apartments are doing.  Some don't even have balconies and letting them run in the halls may not be allowed. 

Most of the parks and playgrounds in our city are closed or have yellow police tape wrapped around the playground equipment.  Some bike paths have been closed down too especially if they go through a public park.  Walking is what's left and is especially okay if you walk a dog.  My illustration for this blog is a kid's school crosswalk where they learn to cross safely, at the right time, and with the permission of the trained crossing guards.  They are learning to obey authority and follow rules and they walk in the 'light' of that. 

Jay walking or crossing a busy street between legal crosswalks is illegal in many cities and you risk injury as well as a ticket and a fine.  Contrast that with some cities that design an entire intersection downtown to be free for pedestrians to cross any direction until the light changes.   Here in Calgary we have Stephens Avenue Mall which is three city blocks closed to vehicle traffic from 10 to 5.   
     
In order to walk safely we need light.  By day we have the sun and at night we have street lights or flashlights.  I recently shared with a fellow Missionary Kid that even as a child I had learned some scriptures that were comforting to me to remember.  Carrying a lantern to light my walk from one end of our compound to the other, even as jackals were howling in the distance and I was watching for snakes and scorpions, I remembered the verse, "Thy word is a lamp unto my path and a light unto my way."  I had no theological understanding of it, but I felt protected and safe.  

Jesus called himself the light and paired that label with walking in it.  John, one of His diciples quoted him: "Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. ​" John 8:12 Then later in one of John's letters he says, " But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin." I John 1:7 Wow!  That looks like it comes with two advantages. First we walk together in more peace and harmony,  and second, our "sins" are taken care of by the sacrifice Jesus made. 

Some of our most difficult sins to resolve are from what we have done, or had done to us by people we walk with in life.  After a school reunion sharing time I came to the conclusion that victims never forget and abusers never remember.  We all had vivid memories of someone at boarding school that hurt or offended us.  None of us remember doing anything to someone else, unless we were caught and got into trouble for it.  Maybe the punishment took away the guilt? I like it that  we can repent for what we've done and forgive for what's been done to us. And there's a way for us to have our hearts clean and walk in a path of light.

Enjoy your walk! Stay six feet apart from people and really close to the Light! 

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