How's Your Walk?

Things have been quiet on the blog lately, I know. That's because I have been occupied with other responsibilities these last three weeks. Two weeks ago, I had the privilege of keeping my 22-month old granddaughter while her parents ministered at the Wilds Camp in North Carolina. She spent the week with me at the home of our daughter who lives nearby, so we had FOUR little girls, 5 and under! We had a great week and made a lot of fun memories.

Two days after I arrived home, it was time for the BIG event: my husband's total knee replacement surgery. Two days after we came home from the hospital, he was re-admitted for not one, but FOUR blood clots. As of today we are home again (hopefully to stay) and it is one week post-surgery. At this point I think we both would say that as much as we thought we were prepared for this surgery and subsequent recovery period, it is much harder than we thought it would be. For my husband, the pain, swelling, limitations and general lack of mobility are very difficult. For me, I had under-estimated the extent of care he would need and the amount of time it was going to require. Helping with three extensive physical therapy sessions a day, dispensing medication, ice packs, changing dressings, helping to walk and dress and shower, and keeping up with extra laundry and cleaning (because everything has to be kept very clean) is a full-time job. I am so grateful that our son was able to be here with me for the surgery and first hospital stay, and for our church family who are willing and ready to help in any way they can.

A major part of my husband's recovery process is an intensive physical therapy program. One of the things he found most surprising (as well as challenging) was that he needed to learn to walk all over again! That's because over the 27 years since he originally injured his knee, he had fallen into bad habits in his walking which he wasn't even aware of, in order to avoid pain. His physical therapist in the hospital observed him walking and quickly began to implement steps toward correcting the way he walked. She emphasized striking with the heel first and walking in a rolling motion, keeping the knees and feet straight. In order to achieve this, my husband had to slow down and consciously think about his posture, hip alignment, and each and every step. It was practice, practice, practice.

One morning while my son was still here, I was able to go out for an early-morning walk. As I was walking, I couldn't help but be more aware of the way I was walking, and remember the things we had learned about walking correctly during the physical therapy sessions in the hospital. I then began to think about the parallel between that and our spiritual walk with the Lord. So often we have fallen into various bad habits over time, and we aren't even aware that we are not walking with the Lord the way we should. If we continue in those bad habits and harmful patterns that we have established, eventually our walk with God will worsen and will result in all kinds of difficulties for us spiritually. 

The Bible has a lot to say about our spiritual walk. When I did a search for "walk" using a concordance, I got 203 references! I plan to start doing a personal study on what the Bible says about our Christian walk, but just to get started, consider these:

"For ye shall walk after the Lord your God, and fear Him, and keep His commandments and obey His voice, and ye shall serve Him and cleave unto Him. " (Deut. 13:4)

"My son, walk not in the way with them, refrain thy foot from their path" (Proverbs 1:15)

"For we walk by faith and not by sight." (2 Cor. 5:7)

"If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit." (Gal. 5:25)

"And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor."  (Eph. 5:2) and "See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but wise." (Eph. 5:15)

"Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the time." (Col. 4:5)

"He that saith he abideth in Him ought also to walk even as he walked." (1 John 2:6)

Lots to think about, huh? These are just the tip of the iceberg of what the Bible tells us about how we should walk. These days I am paying a lot more attention to the way I walk physically, and that reminds me that I need to pay just as much attention to the way I walk as a Christian. So....how's your walk?

Blessings, 

Kathi