Lessons Learnt On A Walk – Part One

Over the next few entries, I’ll be sharing some lessons I’ve learnt from a walk I’ve been on with a friend.

1. Walking the journey with Christ with others.  Of course I have my responsibility to look at and I won’t be able to blame anyone else if I don’t do what I’m called to do.  However, I think there’s a tremendous pull to get people to live at a really solitary individualistic level.  That is not the way of Christ.  We walk, but we don’t walk alone and others are there with us to encourage us and straighten us out when we need it.

2. Silence is fine on the journey. I know people are truly frightened at the thought of real silence – the absence of noise both external and internal.  It’s almost unheard of (which is ironic when you think about it). There are plenty of times for conversation on the journey, and that’s all good.  Likewise, however, for a truly settled and centred mind and spirit silence is required and to be valued.  Along with stillness, there are great riches to be uncovered in experiencing and embracing silence.

3. Passion is the motor of the journey. Whilst we were walking my friend and I engaged in conversation on a number of topics from the inane to the inspiring.  I was taken with how my friend spoke with passion about the things that mattered to him, and that he believed mattered to Christ.  This sincere desire to be pleasing to God and passion to see His will done on earth like heaven was captivating.  Not because it was emotional, but the passion was there.  It was evident.  It was real.  It also seemed to be what kept him going even in adversity.

4. You don’t have to know everything for the journey. Preparation is always good.  It’s good to know you have the right equipment and you’ve assessed what else will be required and ensured it is in place.  Those are positive and noble ends.  Yet, even with the best contingency planning in mind, it is important to realise that you don’t have to know everything there is to know about the journey.  This allows room for the element of surprise, it also allows for the element of faith required for when things don’t go according to your plan.

5. Stories are made for journeys. It is not difficult to believe that from time to time when you’re on a journey you can get into clock-watching.  Experience has taught me that clock watching does not make time move faster.  What does make it move faster is revelling in the joys of a good story on a journey.  As my friend and I walked on, he told some remarkable stories of his personal history that had me both holding my sides at the hilarity of it, and also gawping in awe. It wasn’t because my friend was the Master Storyteller.  It’s just that he had lived and remembered and was able to share about it.  When people get stuck sharing the gospel, I always think that you don’t have to be a great orator with a tremendous command of scripture, you just need to know what you’ve lived, remember it and share about it.  As people are invested in you – through one interest or other – so they’ll at least treat you with the respect to take your story on board.  That and other stories on life’s journey are ripe for the sharing as you walk along with others.

My friend and I hope to continue the journey tomorrow and I look forward to sharing more lessons I pick up from that journey with you then.

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

dmcd