Walking with God (Ann)

There is nothing better for the body, mind, and soul than a walk in the beauty of nature. Lately, my walks have been pure joy as they are usually spent with my amazing walking companion (my daughter) strapped to me, squealing, laughing, and singing to the world around her.

On one particular beautiful fall day a month or so ago, I found myself walking toward the trail with her when an elderly man in a scooter stopped us. He reached into his basket and pulled out an envelope and said, "For you" and then reached into his basket and pulled out a second one, "For your little one." I was a bit taken aback and quickly thanked him before looking in the envelopes. In the first envelope was a beautiful original signed photograph of a bald eagle catching a fish in the river. In the second envelope was an original signed photograph of Thomas the Tank Engine. I was so touched by this kind gesture. This man was handing out his own original beautiful photographs to people walking on the trail to brighten their day--what a special moment to receive these beautiful pieces of art, a piece of his heart shared with us! I walked back to my car to put the photographs in it for safe keeping before we went on our walk. As we made our way back to the trail, we saw him again and thanked him (more enthusiastically this time since I wasn't caught so off guard!) and told him how beautiful the photographs were and how they made our day.

My walks prior to having my daughter were my prayer time--a sacred time for me to spend with God and to reflect on my faith journey. Since having my daughter, they have been a time for me to pray with her and talk to her about God, sharing my faith and (hopefully) growing hers as well. As we walked that day, I was talking to my daughter about her upcoming baptism, the story of Jesus' baptism, and the meaning of this big step in her faith journey. I explained to her that God would be with her no matter what she faced and that even in the difficult times, He would provide what she needed even if she didn't exactly know what that need was. At the time that we were taking this walk, I had been facing a difficult situation and was praying for clarity in my own heart regarding this situation. At the moment that I was saying this to her, Rock Man started to walk towards us and joined us for part of our walk. He started to talk about faith and offer encouragement without even knowing what I was going through. The message that he offered on faith, hope, and love was exactly what I needed in that moment and God knew it! He had our paths cross (literally) in that moment and provided a tangible example of what I was trying to instill in my daughter's heart--what a perfect holy moment!

I came home from that walk feeling so refreshed (and so did my daughter--after her nap, of course!). God had truly been walking with me and had shown by the example of those two holy moments that He would walk with my daughter as well. What a blessing that walk was for both of us!