Walking with Rosie

Rosie is my 8-month-old Labrador Retriever.  Though still a puppy, she recently weighed in at a smidge under 60 pounds.  Her energy and curiosity can make it challenging to walk her, and I sometimes wonder just who is in charge of the lead.  Rosie sees and smells and reacts to everything along the path – kids on bikes, other dogs walking their owners, cats sitting on the porch or basking in the window, leaves blowing across the sidewalk, dandelion seeds just waiting to be scattered.  She notices the sound of the water running through the culvert and people gardening on the other side of the fence.  One moment she’ll be heeling nicely by my left leg and – in a flash – she’s pulling my arms out of their sockets trying to catch the crows landing in the neighbor’s yard. 

Rosie’s curiosity reminds me of walks and field trips with the Littles.  (The ‘Littles’ are the small special people in my life, specifically my great nieces and nephews.)  Going from point A to point B with a preschooler is never a straight line.  There are bugs on the sidewalk, snakes in the garden, tree branches loaded with pink blossoms, and cracks in the sidewalk that must be carefully jumped over. 

Today as I was walking Rosie, I wondered at what point does a person stop being so curious?  When do we become so busy and preoccupied with reaching our destination that we forget to pay attention to what is happening right in front of us?  I can’t remember the last time I took a walk by myself and stooped down to examine an earthworm on the sidewalk, yet if I would just look around, I know that real joy is found in noticing the tiny details I tend to hurry past.  (As I’m working now, it doesn’t take any time at all to notice the beautiful paper-white bark that is peeling on the birch tree outside my window.)

I have been encouraged over the last few years to look for God at work in my every day, ordinary, messy life.  Opening my eyes and my mind and my heart has been life changing.  God is everywhere:  in creation, in my relationships, and in the people I meet along the way.  God is in the details, waiting patiently to be discovered and desperately wanting the opportunity to show just how much he loves and cares for me.  C. S. Lewis wrote “We may ignore, but we can nowhere evade the presence of God.  The world is crowded with Him.  He walks everywhere incognito.”

And so that’s what this blog is about.  Musings about my life of following Jesus, and looking for God’s extraordinary work in the small, sometimes mundane and sometimes miraculous details of the everyday. I’m grateful that you’re joining me on this journey. It’s my prayer that by sharing my personal faith story, you might be encouraged in your own.

One Comment

  • Wendi Simpson

    This is lovely! Thank you so much for bringing it to my attention! Terry, may He continue to bless you and your extended family!