Welcome to Pushing Pause where we take a moment each week to explore faith, rest, and beauty in our everyday lives. In each week’s email you’ll find a short reflection, a resource, and a practice to go deeper with the week’s topic. I’m glad you’re here!
Several times a week I lace up my shoes and drive to the park for a long walk. I follow my favorite path with the trees arched above me as I breathe in the sweet, earthy scent of the woods. These walks are a respite. They are an intentional act of soul care. That is to say, caring for the whole parts of myself; body, mind and spirit. This path has been part of my growth, learning, and healing through the years. The trees have borne witness to it all. The times spent running and panting, the times pushing a baby, the moments with a friend, the ones laughing along with a podcast, and the ones with whispered prayers and tears. This path by itself is nothing too special but the repetitive motions of walking it through the seasons has become like an invitation into something deeper and more meaningful for me personally.
Everyday is an invitation to walk your path.
We can show up, pay attention, and move with purpose in our days and in our lives. Our path is an invitation to discover beauty and connection, find healing, and move at the pace we need as we walk in love. In the past few years I’ve become more confident and my footing has felt more sure in walking my path. For so long I felt uncertain about the path I was on and there are still days I question it. Do I stay straight? Would that path over there be better? Where am I even going? I don’t necessarily have answers to these questions but I’ve learned to trust my own intuition and my friend Jesus as we journey together. To walk our path is to move step by step closer to our truest selves in the kind presence of God.
To walk our path requires movement but it also at times requires that we sit down on the bench, take some deep breaths, get our bearings and recover before we move again. The good news is that when we walk our own path, we’re not racing to keep up with someone else or trying to win a medal, we are simply moving at our own pace.
In my own journey of healing some destructive thought patterns around my body I’ve come to embrace exercise as not just a means to change my body but an act of care to myself. There were seasons where I ran and pushed my body out of a desire to see it shrink. However walking with an appreciation for my body, as it is, in that moment, has been revolutionary. When I walk the path at the park in gratitude at how my body moves, there is a different feeling than when I am pushing myself to change the shape and size of my body. The movement of my body doesn’t need to bring an end result beyond the fact that I am honoring my needs out of love and care. This is a kindness I offer to myself.
So often in life we are walking our path with the focus on self-improvement. Change and betterment become the finish line and we feel rushed to get there instead of receiving the moment. Instead we can walk from a place of love and appreciation for where we are. This perspective can help us to slow down and receive the beauty of the path with gratitude. If we focus on a finish line or on getting to it faster we’ll lose sight of the good to behold along the way.
As you walk your path in life, what is the invitation for today? Perhaps it’s to lean into the strides to make it up the hill, to notice the glory of the light through the trees, or to sit down on the bench and take some deep breaths. Move at your pace, pay attention, and trust the way to unfold before you as you walk in love.
A Resource
My local writing acquaintance turned friend, Jodi Grubbs, is a slow-living advocate and has a podcast dedicated to helping others find connection and encouragement in the journey to slower living. Her most recent episode with author, Jennifer Dukes Lee, pairs well with today’s newsletter. Listen to the Our Island in the City Podcast here.
A Practice
Pay Attention and reflect this week on your current path.
Name how you feel: Tired and weary? Motivated and excited? Relaxed and peaceful?
Notice where you are: the season of life, the beauty or hardships, people, etc.
Notice your pace: Does the way you are moving through life feel good for you in this season?
Name what you need: Is it time to take a break to refresh? Time to push ahead? Time to reflect on where you’ve been? Time to ask for help and invite someone to walk with you or offer guidance?
What is the invitation for you today?
Thanks for reading this week! I hope these words have been a kind companion on your path today. May you sense the invitation to walk your path with confidence and love today and everyday. -Lindsay