Walking

Today my thoughts are on the discipline of walking. I don’t do much of it – not the long distance stuff anyway. Oh, I walk around the office building, around the grocery store, across the parking lot. But getting out to walk around for the sake of walking, not much…

But now my car is in need of a new pair of brakes and while I wait patiently for the repairs to be made (brakes only one among other repairs also necessary… this may take a while…) I decided to walk to work. Now keep in mind this is not a long walk – only ½ mile one way. It took me 14 minutes of a steady, but not brisk, walk to arrive at work this morning.

It was a balmy 22 degrees outside; slight wind, sunny sky. Not an altogether unpleasant day.

As I walked along, I was thinking about the walking I have done while on pilgrimage. I walked a lot in Medjugorje, Bosnia-Hercegovina, when I was there in 2005. I even climbed Apparition Hill (a rather rocky, pathless climb) stopping along the way every few feet to pray a Station of the Cross (and to catch my breath). I discovered that climbing back down is harder as gravity pulls on your leg muscles in unusual ways… I didn’t climb Cross Mountain (Krizivac) because it was slippery due to recent rains and much steeper than Apparition Hill. Most of the folks on pilgrimage with me climbed Cross Mountain late at night while I was content to call it a day. But I have regretted not attempting it at least and definitely will try if the Lord allows me to ever travel to Medjugorje again.

We walked a lot in the Holy Land, too. Nothing too strenuous but some days we left the bus parked in the morning and didn’t return to the bus till late afternoon, to return to our hotel. We walked the Via Dolorosa, praying the Stations along the way, carrying a wooden Cross, and jostling our way around and through the crowds on the street.

We walked the green hills of the Galilee, walked down to the marina to pick up our boat to sail the Sea of Galilee, walked the muddy paths around the Mt. of Beatitudes. The only strenuous (for me) climb was up to Ein Karem, the site of Mary’s Visitation to her cousin Elizabeth. So I stopped frequently to catch my breath but was rewarded along the way by panoramic views of Jerusalem in the distance.

So my thoughts were pleasantly occupied on my walk this morning; I’ll walk home again this afternoon and repeat the process tomorrow and Wednesday. Thursday’s forecast is for a wintry mix, so I’ll probably give in and call a cab.

In the meantime, I’ll enjoy this time God has given me to walk and I’ll meditate along the way, re-calling all the good walks He has so generously provided.