For Those Walking New Roads
There is a new road in my neighborhood and although it isn’t fully completed yet, I’ve included it as a part of my daily walk. There are some interesting things I’ve noticed about walking on our new road.
First, the new road is totally exposed. There isn’t any shade or shelter because there aren’t trees. There isn’t any overgrowth to shield me from the wind. The sun beats down, the wind blows, and all the elements can hit me full force when I’m on the new road.
There are also unexpected dangers on the new road. Construction remnants still lay about. The edges of the new road are sharp and unfinished. The utility wires and rods are still exposed. I have to be mindful of where I step as I journey on the new road.
The new road also feels harder. Maybe it’s just my imagination, but the new road seems a little tougher on my body. It could be that the concrete isn’t as soft and as worn as it feels on the old, familiar roads I regularly travel on.
Still, there’s something about walking on the new road that I love. I love pioneering new spaces. I love journeying into fresh territory. I love discovering new ways. But I am aware that as much as I love these things, traversing new roads brings challenge.
On a recent walk, I was thinking about how similar this is to the paths of life. Many of us are called to journey on new roads. Maybe we’re newly walking with Jesus on a fresh path. Maybe we are carving out new roads and new ways of doing things in our family, in our careers, in our spiritual life, in our relationships, and in the world around us. And just maybe we’re a little worn from challenges that come with walking on a new road.
Let me offer you a piece of hope today if you’re journeying a new road. God is so good that He has created rhythms of rest in our lives to strengthen us on our journey.
As we carve time out of each morning to sit with him in prayer, in scripture reading, in worship, in contemplation, or engaging in spiritual practices, He refreshes us and restores us. We are renewed in His presence and we are given strength to keep on walking with Him.
These times spent in God’s presence have become like rest stops along the new roads I’m walking. They are invitations into shady spaces where I can pause, catch my breath, and be revived so that when I need to hop back on that new road and pioneer new paths, I have all the strength I need.
I wonder if the same might be true for you? Are you pioneering new spaces? Are you walking on new roads? Are you discovering a new way?
If so, do not discount the beauty of intentional time resting in God’s presence. Look for ways to return to the rest stops where refreshment and renewal are available to you in abundance?
It’s brave to walk new roads and press into the challenges that those roads entail. But it’s even more brave to become people who learn to walk in the rhythm of rest, refreshment, and renewal that God offers to us. Those rhythms often look like the pattens we see in the life of Jesus. They look like prayer, fasting, scripture contemplation, time alone with God, time in community, Sabbath days of rest, time with the body of believers, and time spent in creation.
God is a good God who cares about our whole beings- mind, body, and soul. God is inviting us into rhythms of rest where we turn to Him for all we need to keep walking.
I am praying for you and your journey.
Psalms 121:1-8 NIV “I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord watches over you— the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.”