I have been, through no desire of my own, been going on more walks with my wife lately. There I will be, enjoying my puzzles, books, or Netflix, and suddenly, “We should go on a walk!” I’ll hear her say, very excitedly. “The sun out, it looks beautiful! Let’s go!” she’ll continue, trying her best to persuade me. This was something I learned very early on in our relationship, Ellen likes walks. When our relationship was still fairly new, we would sometimes get to a point where we didn’t want to continue doing the same old things and would ask each other, “well, what do you want to do now?”
When she first offered a walk as something to do, I responded with, “to where?” Walking, to me, is a mode of transportation. It exists to take you from one activity to another. We could walk from home to putt-putt for example, or to the bowling alley down the street. Walking is not, itself, an activity to do, but Ellen thought (and thinks) differently. In fact, I learned later, her whole family thinks similarly to her. They go on walks all the time, like it’s a fun thing, like it’s something to do… what kind of Twilight Zone episode did I marry in to?
Anyway, all of that to say, since we’ve been sheltering at home, the amount of activities we can participate in has been drastically reduced, and as a result we have been going on walks much more frequently. Here’s the thing, and you can’t tell her this, I’ve started to kind of enjoy them. Getting out, changing the routine, seeing other people walking their dog or pushing their baby in a stroller, it’s nice… and it’s been getting nicer. I’ve started to notice what nature is doing right now. It’s getting ready to burst forth. It has been cooped up for months, waiting until it can come out again, waiting for the chance to open its leaves, feel the sun, hang out with its other friends, produce pollen and fruit and veggies. It’s been waiting and now it’s almost time!
Spring is probably my favorite theological time of the year. I mean, fall is my favorite season personally, but for theological ideas being lived out in real time before your very eyes, there’s no time like spring. We get to see firsthand rebirth, renewal, resurrection every single year. We see new buds on trees, sprouts of perennial flowers, green specks in a sea of brown. Every Easter we get to see our faith’s story played out in the world around us. Death and rebirth. Deterioration and renewal. Destruction and recreation. So go out into God’s creation (responsibly of course), look at the newness of life, the revival of greenery, and know that God, just like in those trees and flowers, is also working in you to bring about renewal, restoration, recreation, and new life.
Amen.
Pastor TC
