This is the final part of a short series of lessons I’ve come across whilst I’ve been on a walk. (Part One and Part Two can be found in clicking the links.)
1. Follow The Man Who Knows: Of course by ‘man’ that can refer to ‘woman’ as well. By this I am referring to the importance of not just walking with good people around you, but knowing that there is someone ahead who you know has wisdom and experience in the journey. It doesn’t have to be someone with a title, indeed the seasoned travellers show the same humility as those new to everything which makes them all the more appealing to follow.
Sticking with the man who knows also saves heartache on the journey. Their guiding signs of danger ahead, their encouraging words to keep going when the going gets tough, their example of endurance and joy in the journey and their very presence alongside you enables you to go further than you could have thought possible and achieve more than you first thought.
2. Pace Yourself: The journey is not a race. It is not designed for the strongest, the quickest, the smartest or the best resourced. It is set for those who will endure. To endure requires an understanding of your own capabilities. Sometimes it calls you to stretch yourself far beyond what you find to be comfortable, but it never calls you to unwisely risk that which you already have for an elusive advantage.
Others may appear quicker and more confident in the journey, but it is so important to focus on your own path. It is vital to keep centred on what you know your capabilities. Even if that means plodding along while others stride purposefully, every step you take is still a step closer to the destination. There are no prizes given for style. The prize is reaching the destination itself.
3. There Are Provisions To Strengthen You: Remarkable though the human body is, it still requires provisions. Without food to eat and liquid to drink the remarkable body will remarkably collapse. Timing the consumption of the provision can be crucial as well to support the journey.
The provisions given, however are also the context for another critical resource in the hourney. That precious time to stop, reflect on the journey and be thoroughly mentally and emotionally refreshed as well as physically nourished. Times like these help to remember that man doesn’t live by bread alone, but by relationship. Strength comes from these relationships provided for the journey.
There is nothing better than knowing that even beside the still waters, your soul can be restored as your stomach is satisfied.
4. The Wilderness Walk: It is good to walk with so much of the familiar around. People to see, the noise of every day life resounding and the walk being able to convey a sense of normality. Yet not every part of the journey will be so friendly.
As the path begins to thin, the terrain becomes rough and soon all the familiar trappings of civilisation seem to fade away to be replaced with a barren land. Sparse in nature, bereft of much in the way of noise other than the occasional chirping of some wilderness creature. Everything about the environment implies being solitary, being alone, with further nothingness ahead of you and nothingness around you, hope can be at a premium.
It is in these very circumstances that it is important to walk on. Even when it seems as though there is no good to be found, God still gives His children song. Maybe a song crying out for help. Perhaps a song of praise of His continued presence even if it’s not always felt. These songs of the spirit enable you to face the famine of life in the knowledge that the feast of heavenly fellowship still awaits.
5. Do Good To Fellow-Travellers: We are not alone on the journey, and we are not the only ones travelling. Often the path will take us alongside other travellers at various stages of their walk. Recognising the various issues that people could face in the journey, and experiencing a lot of what goes wrong as well right, it is good then to do good to fellow-travellers.
It is important to reach out and help however you can, wherever you can, whenever you can. Some traveller may have fallen ill, another may have grown despondent, your presence and whatever support you can give may be the difference between a sad tale of loss and a joyous story of recovery and success in the completion of the journey.
This is not done in the hope of repayment, for that is never guaranteed, but it is done in the knowledge that in your low period, you too have needed good to be done to you, and it has been done.
This concludes the lessons that I learnt on the walk I’ve been on. It has been a specific walk that I’ve been on where these lessons have been gleaned. They were not the only lessons, but they were the ones worth noting at this time, and who knows maybe in the fullness of time others may emerge on this blog.
It is worth noting what this walk was about, for it was by no means a regular walk for me at all. More on that walk and the person with whom I had the esteemed honour and pleasure of sharing that walk in the next entry.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
dmcd
Life With CD 
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