Walking At Home

This has been a hot, humid summer.
Not my favorite weather.
Not my favorite season.
I like cold weather, though I may be in the minority.

If you’re cold, you can always put on another layer to keep warm.
If you’re cold, you can always sit under a blanket with a cup of tea and a book.
If you’re hot, there is only so much you can remove to get cool.
Even after a nice shower, the humidity will make you feel as if another shower is in order.

I love to walk but not in the hot weather.
I feel more alive when it is cool, or better yet, when it is cold.
I carry my phone when I walk so I can listen to a Bible study and then a podcast.
I carry a paper towel to blot my face in the heat.

In the winter, you will see me with my coat, gloves, and my hood pulled up over my head.
I may or may not have a scarf around my neck.
I walk briskly, enjoying the weather.
But walking in summer…I just want to get home.

To solve the dilemma, I subscribed to a walk at home program.
Every month, there is a calendar with walks of various lengths.
Some days will be just walking.
Other days include resistance bands, which, when paired with your walk, is a good work out.

I stream this program through my phone.
I do my walk down the basement, pushing the coffee table against the leather sofa.
There is plenty of room.
Even though I may walk one, two, or even three miles, I use only a small area.

There are four steps to the program: walk, knee lifts, kicks, and side steps.
Each of these basic moves come with variations as the speed picks up.
The entire walk usually takes me about thirty minutes.
There is a warm up walk, brisk walking for about twenty minutes, then a cool down.

My fit bit pulses against my wrist, telling me I am in the cardiac zone.
It tells me my speed, heart rate, and miles.
It has been such a blessing this summer, because I am still walking but not in the heat.
I may walk two or three miles, but I don’t actually get anywhere.

I never leave the area in front of the sofa.
I may take side steps but I always come back to the middle.
I may do kick backs (hamstring curls) but I’m basically in place.
I may walk and use resistance bands but I have never left my basement.

This walking program is intense.
It makes you breathe hard and sweat a lot.
There are many physical benefits of this walking program, which are measurable.
However, if walking from one place to another is your goal, you will be disappointed.

Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. (1 Timothy 4:15,16)

If we want to get better at something, we have to be persistent.
We have to show up each day and be consistent.
No one else may see the hard work we put into the thing we want to master.
But we know, through sweat and physical challenge, that we are pressing on towards the goal.

My heartbeat can be measured, as well as my breathing and number of steps.
It may appear that I am in the same area without much movement.
However, I am progressing, even if it appears as if I’m standing still.
I show up each morning and that makes all the difference.

My walk at home program and my spiritual walk are quite similar.
I want to show up each day with my Bible before me.
It is not a matter of how many chapters and verses I read each day.
It is about being consistent and knowing that growth is indeed happening.

God knows.
God sees.
The Holy Spirit will help us as we exercise our spiritual muscles.
Maybe our “reminder to move” on our watches or fitbits could be reminders to be in the Word.

Now that’s a thought.