Walk

"I find it difficult to believe that words have no meaning in themselves, hard as I try. Habits of lifetime are not lightly thrown aside."

                                                                            - Chase Stewart

Words are our function. They allow conversation. They bring names to things we couldn't even describe, if we did not have the words to describe them. I suppose it is like the chicken before the egg type business of life. The cleverness comes into play when a word gains new meaning, perhaps as a result of a new experience.

Take for instance the word, "walk". To some it depicts recreation. To others, a cold 20-25 minutes, depending on the reliability of Edmonton transportation.
Still to others it may be a memory, a hobby, or a date-able opportunity, if you take a long enough one on a metaphorical beach with the person of your choosing. Still to others, one in particular, the meaning of "walk" changes drastically when the future reliance of it could as well.

It was last fall when she sat...pondering the previous 20 minute appointment. Routine. Yet there was a sentence submitted briefly into its conclusion that changed what "walk" described. She had her challenges before now, but this time, this appointment, this moment... spoke deeper. You see, when you rely on the word "walk" as a descriptor of life, life changes when you add "not able to" in front of it. And it was T-minus 8 to 10 years before she may have to couple the wordings together.

She drove away, not sure what to make of such news, but knowing "walk" had, in a way, changed forever. Driving down the winding escapes of Edmonton's downtown, seeing paces of people moving fast and slow, seemed to provide a new perspective. A man, impatient at best, scurried from the bus stop at an attempt to out-do waiting for it to come. It seemed "walk" was on no one's mind but hers.

The wave of experience continued into a grocery store parking lot where, once annoyed, she looked onward to stalls adorned by a white on blue stencil of reservation, for those who perhaps thought much more often of "walk". She parked a little farther on and sat.  Watching those who came to occupy this space and then left. And she wondered when they perhaps experienced "walk" in a new way like she. And compassion joined her for the show.

Later that evening, a song filled her ears, as emotion filled her heart. The words of "take my feet and let them be, swift and beautiful for Thee" resounded, as the uncertainty came to join in. And "walk" had found new meaning in her vocabulary. It was not so much the "woe-is-me", as it was the "thank you Father, You hold all things".

You see, for her, experience unveiled a new reality to this word. It became a new compassion for her when she saw those who struggled. It allowed her to park farther away and enjoy the extra steps to the door. It made her think of new opportunities to enjoy and maintain health in the present, and preserve it in a new way for the future. For her, seizing the day meant seizing this word, "walk" in new appreciation.

I am certain I can think of words that tweak your experience; perhaps "baby", "marriage", "cancer", "money", "family", "baptism", "job", "friend", "church"...and so our vocabulary stretches. I hope you are challenged to find new meaning for the words in your life. Perhaps the reality for each of us in this hour is simply to reflect on which words we choose to ascribe experience to our lives. Walk on.
Pun, fully intended.