lighter walks – maggiemarcum

Healthy Walking: Part 2, Take the Walk

Previously, I wrote about my reframing walk and acceptance of who I am at this stage of my aging life. Walking is my healing grace. It’s where I meet The Divine for long conversations about my life, relationships, and my place in the world.

Healthy Walking- part three. Experience Your neighborhood

I am fortunate enough to live in a town where I can walk to expansive neighborhoods, to the grocery store, or local restaurants. It is uplifting to stop at the outdoor market or roam through the little privately owned shops. Go local if you can and support struggling small businesses. Get to know the owners and learn their story.

I remember growing up in Germany and on Saturdays my mom and I would take off for the bakery or for the little shops around where we lived. I’ll always have a tender spot for Saturdays and cream puffs. As a teenager we always ate in little restaurants and would pop in and out of the shops-sometimes just exploring what was new and plotting what to save our babysitting money to buy. I still love browsing through the small shops as if walking in a museum, enjoying creations…that I can pick up!

My walking always leads me to thinking about where I am going, or where I am leaving. Frequently I find myself discussing this with The Divine and apologizing for mistakes and seeking forgiveness. I pray for help and wisdom to transition from one season to another.

So often we look back on our life and list our regrets. We can reflect on our years of living and be flooded with positive, or negative memories. As I walked through the neighborhood near the apartments where I live, I saw beautiful grand homes. It made me sad to think of what I had “lost” for various reasons, including some bad financial decisions I made. I no longer own a house as a result of my choices and trusting some people whom I should not have. I have said for years that I “lost” everything in those unstable times. I used to think I was such a loser and I lived with shame and embarrassment and a sense that I had squandered what God had provided.

I want to reframe that story and to now simply say: “I no longer have those things. They were season in my life that came to an end.” I will likely never own a home again, unless something miraculous happens. And that’s OK. I was a little bit of a nomad growing up – moving every two or three years and I think I have continued that pattern for most of my life. Now it’s renting instead of owning, which gives me flexibility. It may not be as economically sound as some of my homeowner friends tell me, but that’s alright. This is the season in which I am living. I am part of a community that includes folks who have made the decision to live like me and it is kind of fun to share our stories of homeowner trappings and relief!

Lean into being healthy by taking care of your heart and soul. Find the process and place where you connect with The Divine and build new life-giving patterns. For me, this summer that has been water. I am blessed to have a pool in our apartment complex and I get to spend a lot of time just soaking in the water, looking up at the clouds and reimagining the stories that they tell. Did you ever do that as a kid? Do it again! Lay down and look at the images of the clouds and let God unfold a new story for you. Never lose that child-like nature that we’ve been given.

Keep seeking replenishment, refreshment, and renewal. Be open to the change and growth that is awaiting.

I encourage you to reframe the way you look at your life and instead of losses and mistakes, maybe we can just look at it as the seasons of our life and be content with that. Seasons bring ends and they bring starts. Seasons are letting go and grabbing onto the unknown.

Hopefully, we can look back and bring joy and peace into past painful times, and know that God has repurposed those times for good. They are just times, but not wasted times. If we look at them as times of growth, and opportunities to expand our world, then we have real life. May it be so for you. May you be free of regrets and “should-haves” and refreshed in a new season of what the Creator has provided for today.

In humble peace.

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