Although I don’t
often walk great distances, walking has been in my blood ever since
childhood (rather like listening to the radio; maybe I’ll do a blog
entry on that sometime). It sometimes astonishes me even now the
distance I used to walk (or run) to get from home to primary school
and back twice a day when I was little more than an infant. Many a
time, on leisure days, I would wander off by myself, going all over
Guernsey, my island home. It was quite safe and my parents had no
fears for me.
Mum would take me
walking quite often, especially on pleasant summer days. It was quite
an achievement for her. Back in the 1940’s she had fallen victim to
meningitis. The treatment in those days was as drastic as “kill or
cure” and left her permanently deaf. As we tend to balance by using
our hearing, Mum had to learn to walk all over again. She was a
capable, even if a bit slow and unsteady, walker, with a very simple
view of what made a good walk: you tried to return by a different way
from your outward one. This has become a habit with me, too. Where
possible I make my walks circular rather than retrace my steps. Like
Mum I keep up a fairly slow pace – most people overtake me – and
as with Mum my sense of balance is not great now.
Walking, they say, is
good for you. In my view this isn’t uniformly the case. Sometimes
my thoughts are positive, sometimes dark and brooding. But there is a
sense of achievement, a sense of physical well-being and for me a
sense of keeping in touch with my roots. Sometimes – as I have
mentioned before on this blog – I am blessed by really uplifting
God-incidences en route.
The Bible often
describes the way of life of a man or woman as their “walk”. The
first and maybe the most striking mention of this is in Genesis
5:21-24 -
When Enoch had lived
65 years, he fathered Methuselah. Enoch walked with God after he
fathered Methuselah 300 years and had other sons and daughters. Thus
all the days of Enoch were 365 years. Enoch walked with God, and he
was not, for God took him. Genesis 5:21-24 ESV
To me this is a most
beautiful picture of a man’s close friendship with the living God.
Enoch didn’t just “walk before” God, conscious of having God
close behind him as an observer and judge who would correct him if he
stepped out of line. He didn’t just “walk after” God, taking
God for a model and imitating His ways as far as man can imitate God.
Enoch “walked with” God, a sign of confident (but in no way
over-confident), close fellowship. Enoch made sure to live in such a
way that he had no need to be scared of God or hide away. And this
relationship took on a life of its own. Physical death made no
difference to it. Once Enoch’s time on earth had passed, he was
simply whisked away into the presence of God – to continue that
walk on a higher plane.
He walks with God
who speaks to God in prayer,
And daily brings to
Him his daily care;
Possessing inward
peace, he truly knows
A heart's
refreshment and a soul's repose.
He walks with God
who, as he onward moves,
Follows the
footsteps of the Lord he loves,
And keeping Him
forever in his view,
His Saviour sees and
his example too.
He walks with God
who turns his face to Heaven,
And keeps the blest
commands by Jesus given;
His life upright,
his end untroubled peace,
Whom God will crown
when all his labours cease.
Dorothy Ann Thrupp,
1779-1847