I've been thinking a lot lately about walking.  Walking has been a basic component of life since the beginning of time.  In Genesis 3:8, Adam and Eve heard God walking in the Garden of Eden, and at the end of a person's life, if they had lived a life pleasing to God, they are said to have "walked with the LORD."

There is so much excitement when a baby takes its first steps, and when there that kid gets to walk alone for the first time.  My friend Johanna and I always love going on walks when we get together.  It just offers the time to talk, observe God's creation, but still keep moving just as we were meant to do. You can always tell the intensity of our conversations by how fast we walk.  When we're contemplative and just working through our thoughts, we walk slowly; but when we are frustrated or worked up, we're moving more like the Flash.  Walking is a great thing.

I've been reading some of the Pauline letters in the past few weeks, and throughout Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, and Colossians, people are told to "walk with one another".  My favorite instance is in Ephesians 5: Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.  This passage means a lot to me because of a class I took last year.  We read this passage while in Ephesus, and one of my professors said "This is what we have been doing throughout this journey."  We were nearing the end of a trip to study John and Paul on-site in Greece and Turkey, and each day was full of walking, climbing, talking, and listening.  We were walking in brotherly love with one another, just as Paul had instructed other believers to do hundreds of years ago.

Walking is important, both literally and metaphorically.  Walk with others, physically taking steps with each other and with your hearts.