Tag: dog walking

Healthy Walking- part three. Experience Your neighborhood

Post author By Maggie Marcum
Post date August 26, 2026
No Comments on Healthy Walking- part three. Experience Your neighborhood

Sometimes it’s just about the Walk.

Sometimes it’s just feeling a cool breeze and noticing things around us—checking out our neighborhood and hearing sounds central to our community. I love an early morning walk while the air is still cool and the birds are just waking. The glimmer of the new-day sun reminds me of all the possibilities ahead.

There’s a lot of construction going on around our neighborhood and it makes me smile to watch all of the workers coming in and doing what they do. Usually there is laughter, the beeping of a truck as it backs up, or the clang of the metal detour signs setting in place. All the sounds of a neighborhood coming to new life and opportunities.

It’s simple the things that we can be curious about when we walk and keep our eyes open to notice the “normal.” Do you know how many different kinds of cars are parked on a busy street?? I look at the cars and I wonder who the drivers are and what brought them to the neighborhood. Do they live here? Are they visiting? Do they work here? What assumptions am I making about them because of their car??

We are fortunate to have places scattered about to sit and rest and watch the day unfold. We have several areas with fountains. I love the refreshing sounds of the water running. For me, I find peace in the ripple of water. Imagine sitting here having lunch in the afternoon, watching the waterfall and the construction crews building from the designs that they were given. Each day it’s a little bit new and I look forward to seeing their finished project.

My mile walk brings me past the local restaurants, coffee shops, and the nursery. One more statue with running water that captures my attention as I peak down the aisles to see what new plants are emerging. The morning is too early for stores to be open and it’s the perfect time to stroll through town looking in all the windows.

As I head home, the building in which I live is coming back to life. Kids are getting ready for school. Adults are packing their lunches and bags for their busy day at work. The retirees are stretching and coming down to start their own walks. The day has begun, and I am grateful to be a part of it.

I hope you will take time to look around your neighborhood and see the sites that maybe you have just walked by. I’m learning to appreciate all that God has created, even through the humans that are building them. May your day be filled with joy and peace as you breathe in Yahweh Beauty and out that which you don’t need to carry into the day.

Tags breathe prayer, Buddy the Dog, construction worker, dog walking, fountain, garden, lighter walk, McLean, morning walk, neighborhood, new day, new life, nursery, retired, shop local, sunrise, walking, water therapy

Living Loving Serving The Lighter Walk

The Slow Walk

Walking with Buddy is teaching me to walk differently. So many times I get out on the path and I’m just trying to get my steps in and make sure I’m building muscles in my legs and slimming down my waist. That doesn’t happen when you walk with a dog!

I’m learning from Buddy to stop and look around and see what there is to see. He loves to stop at every tree and sniff the bark. That causes me to pause and look at all the ridges in the trees and at the roots of the tree which support it. It gives me time to reflect on creation’s beauty in fine detail.

He waddles along joyfully down the path until something again catches his eye or catches his nose. We stop again for him to explore what it is. I’m learning now to stop and look at what it is, instead of waiting impatiently for him to finish his Sniff of the Minute. Off we go again, trucking down the sidewalk, at dog pace.

He will stop at the rustle of a leaf. Sometimes it just startles him, and sometimes he has to go stomp it to see if it will crunch under his foot. It reminds me of the seasons in which we live our lives, ever-changing pieces falling off as new branches and leaves are growing in. Relationships changing, life evolving. I marvel at the change from season to season. We walk along and I wonder what will it be like when winter comes, because we haven’t walked in the winter together yet. It is a sense of anticipation and of dread. Ah life!

He slows me down and gives me time to look up at the sky. He slows me down and gives me time to catch the steeple down the road glistening in the moonlight. Sometimes we just have to sit at the bench too because he loves to sit at the bench and people watch and so we sit and we watch and say “hello “ as only a chihuahua can.

This is when I find myself seeking the presence of God and almost missing it. Just because I live in a “city environment” doesn’t mean I can’t see God here. I can find the creator in the magnificence of a tree built against the side of a building, or in the chirping of the birds, as we walk, yes even the snapping of crickets. There’s all kind of beetles and bugs that crawl out from the ground and while I may squeal when I see them, I have to stop and wonder how God created something so ugly and scary and yet remember that it is God‘s creation and it must be appreciated.

So next time you’re on that walk with your dog and you’re impatient because he is stopping for one more sniff; stop yourself and sniff in the beauty of the world around you. Perhaps there’s a message God has for you in that moment of pausing. Perhaps there will he something to carry home, just for you.

Tags buddy, dog, dog walking, faith, God, leaves, nature, prayer, purpose, reflection, trees, walking

The Lighter Walk

Pre-Dawn Walking

It wasn’t my plan to be outside walking before the sun came up this morning. However, with the dog whining and the daughter already off to work, up I was. And what a wonderful delight I found outside.

It was still quiet. Early enough that people were not out and about and late enough that I could see the lights turning on in the neighborhood. As Olie led me down the pathway I could feel the unfamiliar silence in the complex. The wind was lightly blowing, the grass slightly wet, and the crescent of the moon was still visable. In the distance I could see a glimmer of the new day dawning as I stood on the sidewalk looking skyward.

Weeping may tarry for the night,
but joy comes with the morning. Psalm 30

I found myself thinking that if I had stayed in bed even a few minutes longer I would have missed all this. I would have missed the crisp air bringing my skin to life. I would have missed the simple walk that brought light into my day. If I had focused only on me instead of the needs of a four-legged friend who depends on me, I would have missed the best blessing of the day.

How often do we hesitate to step out of our comfort zone for the good of another? How often to do pull the covers up and say “someone will tend to it.” How often do we miss the joy that God will send our way when we look beyond self and love and care for others in the world around us?

I visited the Lamb Center in Fairfax, Virginia yesterday. What an amazing place. It is a small facility that is making a huge change in the lives of the homeless, and in the lives of the volunteers. Here visitors are given a hot meal and a place to socialize. Here they can find someone to pray with them and attend recovery meetings if needed. They can get a hot shower and have their clothes laundered while they look for a job or talk to someone about government services. They can meet with a nurse practitioner or a dentist. And they are so loved and respected in this simple place.

You see people who are willing to step out are blessing others and receiving a blessing in return. They don’t do it for the return benefit – they do it because God has placed a love for the less fortunate on their heart. Here people don’t have the luxury of a bed let alone the covers to pull up to hide under. Here people have said ‘yes’ in a big way–one person at a time.

Start your day early. Look beyond the normal. See where God would love to use you. Maybe it is the homeless, maybe young children, maybe the disabled, or maybe just the neighbor next door. Look up and see the wonder of this world and see what you can do to lighten the walk of another.

God bless you on your walk.

“Let me hear of your unfailing love each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give myself to you.” Psalm 143

Tags charity, dawn, dog walking, helping others, homeless, lighter walks, moon, morning walk, puppy day, The Lamb Center