For the last month or so, I’ve been taking a daily walk. While it might seem like a short walk for most people, for me, a half-hour walk is a challenge, but it’s a necessary challenge. The disability I live with is slowly progressive, and I need to do all I can with the muscles I have left.
1. Walking completely around 2 or 3 blocks with heavy leg braces, even with the help of a walker, wears a person out. Phew – my sweatband is constantly soaked. As I see people jogging by, I choose not to compare my health journey with theirs. Remember, we do ourselves and others no good when we judge their journey through the lens of our own.
2. Obstacles that challenge your routine can lead you to new adventures. Those obstacles could turn into blessings if you don’t allow those obstacles to become stumbling blocks.
I live in an older district near the downtown core of my city. The ageing sidewalks on most side streets are not in the best of condition. My sidewalk is no exception. The city is slowly replacing those sidewalks, especially on streets with heavy foot traffic, such as mine.
Earlier this week, I set out on my usual route only to see heavy equipment tearing apart a section of sidewalk halfway up the street. That sidewalk had deep cracks that made it difficult for people to use walkers, wheelchairs, or strollers to keep their wheels from getting stuck, so it was a blessing to know the crew would fix the problem.
As it was a blustery Autumn morning, it was tempting to use that torn up sidewalk as an excuse to return home.
But no, I turned around and crossed the street at the crosswalk a few dozen feet in the other direction and headed up the sidewalk toward my usual route. On a whim, I decided to make a left turn rather than go straight ahead and found myself walking down a picturesque little street only a block from me that I had never really looked at in the over 20 years I have lived in this neighbourhood. I admired the pretty little gardens in front of picturesque offices that were once homes.
As I headed out for my walk the following day, a lovely stretch of new sidewalk greeted me.
Are there obstacles popping up in front of you unexpectedly today? I encourage you to consider looking for a way around them, take a different path, think outside of the box. Just because the way you usually do things is not available to you, it doesn’t mean there is another way to reach your goal today.
Prime the pump of your adventurous spirit. We were all born with one, watch a toddler for 5 minutes, and you will see what I mean. Look at alternative routes in life as the opportunities and potential blessings as you dare to take the risk to step out of your daily routines.
Read a different version of the Bible, listen to podcasts from a teacher or preacher from a stream of Christianity that is your own today, rather than listening to your favourite go-to Bible teacher or pastor.
If you haven’t shaken it up once in a while, and you’ve been moving along in your Christian walk in auto-pilot mode, you might find your wheels stuck in a rut of mindless routines.
All Bible Verses, unless otherwise noted, are attributed to the NASB 1995 version
Did you know that every day I post an inspirational and often challenging Christian quote from various speakers, authors, pastors, and heroes of our faith from the first century all the way up to the present day? You can find these quotes on the Daily Christian Quote website or in the Daily Christian Quote Facebook Group.
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©2021 Katherine Walden