Have you ever noticed...

Sometimes the most relaxing thing I can do is go for a walk.  That might be why I love my brilliantly black German Shepherd; she is the perfect excuse to get outside.  Regardless of where I walk, neighborhoods or scenic trails, I am reminded that thousands of other people exist around me...and somehow oxygen fills the spaces between us all.  Walks "reset" me.

A simple activity like walking dials my senses back.  I notice my breathing, goosebumps, certain sore muscles, and the early onset of headaches or dry eyes.  Awareness like this is impossible when life is bombarded with busy-ness.  I know this because there are days when I feel too busy to even eat, and that is just ridiculous.

I have noticed something else about taking walks.  The songs I sing (in my head of course), my mantra so to speak, change.  I stop matching my steps to Titanium, The Fighter, or Howlin' for You and starting breathing a new message.

As I pass trees, ocean waves, and parks the words just come:

GOD, you reign, GOD, you reign

Forever and ever, GOD, you reign

GOD, you reigh, GOD, you reign

I know you reign

Forever and ever, GOD, you reign 

Hallelujah, Hallelu, Hallelujah, Hallelu
Hallelujah, Hallelu, Hallelujah, Hallelu

It starts to get a little louder, drowning out my internal secretary and her annoying voice.

GOD, you reign, GOD, you reign

Forever and ever, GOD, you reign

GOD, you reigh, GOD, you reign

I know you reign

Forever and ever, GOD, you reign 

Hallelujah, Hallelu, Hallelujah, Hallelu
Hallelujah, Hallelu, Hallelujah, Hallelu

Blessings, prayer requests, proverbs, and jokes take over the frustrated places in my brain...by this point, it is likely I am audibly humming or singing.  No matter how weighed down I was I can experience a measure of closeness with GOD.

You hold my life, You know my heart

And you call me by name

I live to say, GOD, you reign.

Hallelujah, Hallelu, Hallelujah, Hallelu
Hallelujah, Hallelu, Hallelujah, Hallelu

I struggle with believing that "if I _____ then I won't have anything to worry about."  Skip a walk, work through lunch (which inevitably leads to me setting my food down, getting up to do something, and forgetting to pick up my food again), reschedule my quiet time, etc.  I am describing these lies as "acts of self-ocating" because it literally feels like I am suffocating under the weight of my (sometimes good) projects and goals.  I need regular reminders that "quality beats quantity:" in relationships (with GOD and other people), email messages, flyers and PR pieces, and even gifts to others.

I highly doubt the human heart could ever have too much connection with GOD, but it can definitely have too much distraction, too much pressure/perfectionism, too much noise, and too many events.

Sometimes you just gotta walk.