"Meditation – 60 Days of Prayer" for Friday, 01 July 2016 from The Upper Room in Nashville, Tennessee, United States
JULY 1
You know about the benefits of walking for your physical health, but have you considered that walking is good for your soul? Author, pastor, and teacher, Thomas Hawkins, offers this reflection about walking as a spiritual practice:
“Stepping out of our safe, private world on the Way of Jesus Christ is not easy. Welcoming strangers, embracing differences, and living with ambiguity or uncertainty is never easy. It can transform us much like Jesus transformed Zacchaeus when they met on the road. Jesus calls it a narrow way and contrasts it with the broad path that promises a safer, easier journey. (Read Matthew 7:13-14.) The Way of Jesus in narrow because it is the way of suffering love, vulnerability, and receptivity that becomes a way of peace and joy.
It takes perseverance to walk with Jesus. The Way of Christ is not a path we walk for a few days or weeks but a way of life for life. In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Paul compares it to a footrace that requires discipline and training.”
TAKE A WALK THIS WEEKEND in which you intentionally go somewhere you will likely encounter people: a shopping mall, a commercial street, a supermarket, or park. Begin your walk by becoming conscious of your body and breathing. Then gently shift your awareness to the people and the objects or stores around you. Be curious about them. What catches your attention? What calls to you? Let the people, objects, or activities you notice become prompts for brief, sentence-like prayers. When you return from the walk, write about it. How did offering a prayer for the people and situations you encountered change your experience?[Thomas R. Hawkins]
–Every Step a Prayer: Walking as Spiritual Practice
From Every Step a Prayer by Thomas R. Hawkins. © 2016 by Thomas R. Hawkins. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. Learn more about this book.
Our mailing address is:
The Upper Room Strategic Initiatives
PO Box 340007
You know about the benefits of walking for your physical health, but have you considered that walking is good for your soul? Author, pastor, and teacher, Thomas Hawkins, offers this reflection about walking as a spiritual practice:
“Stepping out of our safe, private world on the Way of Jesus Christ is not easy. Welcoming strangers, embracing differences, and living with ambiguity or uncertainty is never easy. It can transform us much like Jesus transformed Zacchaeus when they met on the road. Jesus calls it a narrow way and contrasts it with the broad path that promises a safer, easier journey. (Read Matthew 7:13-14.) The Way of Jesus in narrow because it is the way of suffering love, vulnerability, and receptivity that becomes a way of peace and joy.
It takes perseverance to walk with Jesus. The Way of Christ is not a path we walk for a few days or weeks but a way of life for life. In 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, Paul compares it to a footrace that requires discipline and training.”
TAKE A WALK THIS WEEKEND in which you intentionally go somewhere you will likely encounter people: a shopping mall, a commercial street, a supermarket, or park. Begin your walk by becoming conscious of your body and breathing. Then gently shift your awareness to the people and the objects or stores around you. Be curious about them. What catches your attention? What calls to you? Let the people, objects, or activities you notice become prompts for brief, sentence-like prayers. When you return from the walk, write about it. How did offering a prayer for the people and situations you encountered change your experience?[Thomas R. Hawkins]
–Every Step a Prayer: Walking as Spiritual Practice
From Every Step a Prayer by Thomas R. Hawkins. © 2016 by Thomas R. Hawkins. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Upper Room Books. Learn more about this book.
Our mailing address is:
The Upper Room Strategic Initiatives
PO Box 340007
Nashville, Tennessee 37203, United States
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