Just Do It

My favorite pastime, hands down, is walking.

I thrive on long walks, listening to podcasts, or sermons, or music, occasionally removing my earbuds, enjoying the notes of nature. Up and down the hilly paths I fly, deeply inhaling the clean, fresh air, observing robust wildlife: bright songbirds and Canada geese, clusters of deer, chipmunks, and squirrels.

Flowering trees signal the dawn of spring, while high heat ushers in blooms of summer, giving way to autumn’s celebrated blaze: trees of fire. And finally? Bare, spindly branches capped with snow, to round out the calendar year.

Whether the sunshine dances over the shimmering pond, or snow clouds yield bleaker skies, it does not matter– I think and pray and always return home refreshed and eager to write.

It works. God’s gift of nature inspires me, without fail. It gifts me the words, sentences, and paragraphs.

I was terribly saddened when, over the past six weeks, an injury necessitated that I stop walking for a time. There was little that I could do, other than ride a stationary bike.

It was abysmal.

How I missed those splendid daily walks, so different from exercising in a stuffy, indoor gym. Air that feels stale, never fully circulating, as people mill about from machine to machine with smudged phones and neon water bottles, sweat soaking their white neck towels, while the news blares from the small corner television, loud and discouraging.

Rather than growing inspired, I inevitably returned home dull of mind, realizing that this was my new normal for at least a month.

***

Through this inconvenience, I have been surprised to discover that it is good to be disrupted. For life, as we know it, to be jolted, even in diminutive ways. God wastes absolutely nothing but designs hardships for our good.

Something as small as being unable to exercise outdoors has awakened me to pleasures that I had taken for granted. Things such as healthy muscles, the wind in my face, the ability to walk without thinking twice.

***

One morning, after returning from stale air, I grabbed the oversized coffee can from the garage, chock full of birdseed, and filled our bird feeder with a special winter cherry mix. I sat down on the front steps, Bible opened, and as I studied the tiny-boned creatures, so bright of feather, greedily flitting from feeder to branch with ease, I began to feel rather sorry for myself, and my present state of immobility.

With a long-winded sigh, so dramatic, and heard only by the birds, I read Romans 12:3.

For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned.

Sober judgment.

In that split second, I snapped to attention, considering a simple truth that had previously eluded me.

God had assigned me this time of slight injury.

How should I respond? In trust and faith? Loving God most, serving him in all things? Or selfishly, with a moaning and whining spirit, thinking far too highly about myself?

I confessed on the spot, nipping my sour attitude.

Good riddance.

***

We live in a world where nearly everyone will instruct you to: Cut yourself some slack! Life is hard, and it is okay to sulk and cater to those crummy attitudes of the heart. You are only human, and deserve to mope a bit, feeling all of the feelings, serving and thinking only of yourself. Who wouldn’t?

Here is the problem with that narrative: it is nowhere to be found in Scripture. (Philippians 2:14-16)

Ephesians 4:21-24:  when you heard about Christ and were taught in him in accordance with the truth that is in Jesus.  You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.

Here’s my encouragement today:

Just do it.

Obey God.

No need to overthink biblical fidelity, drawing up spreadsheets of pros and cons.

Simply be speedy to obey, no matter how you or anyone else feels. The world will suggest easier outs, but, as Christians, those options fall in line with our former life and deceitful desires.

Put off the old, corrupted self, and become more like God, practicing righteousness and walking in holiness.

It is delightfully freeing, and despite all hardships, your soul will happily soar in swift obedience to God.

I know it seems elementary, but obedience to God through Scripture is always right. (And if you are like me, the task of returning to the elementary principals of Scripture serves up a hearty reminder, plus a much-needed swift kick in the pants.)

Sadly, I am prone to forgetting that those ugly moods of the heart: complaining, sulking, bitterness, and envy, are horribly sinful. If left to flourish, they will inevitably mutate into more tangled sin. And sin always serves Satan, not God. If I consider my ugly attitudes with this renewed frame of mind, I will be much quicker to mortify them.

Yes, even those faintly visible whiny moments, if left to simmer in my spirit, will grow into greedy, lengthy weeds, stretching tall and choking me, thus grieving and quenching the Holy Spirit.

How much wiser to deal directly in biblical truth, refusing to give myself a pass, but extracting weedy sins at the root, thereby putting off the old self and renewing my mind with a joyful, thankful spirit.

***

I am back to taking morning walks, and my heart is quite thankful to bypass the stuffy gym.

The air is cold and fresh, and this morning I inhaled it deeply, smiling as I enjoyed the bright morning sunlight dancing, twinkling over the pond. A brilliant bluebird tilted its head at me from a slender branch. A branch that is only beginning to bud, a sure promise that spring is near.

It will take time to regain my former walking speed, but I am choosing to trust God no matter what, taking one step at a time.