We try to have dinner with our kids at least twice a month. I know that we are blessed when it comes to being able to accomplish this.
Most of the time, after we eat, we take our grandkids out and let them run, jump, and monkey bar, their calories and energy off.
But my favorite part of all this has always been walking. With my wife when it was just us, with my kids when they were the age of my grandkids. Now, with our kids, and grandchildren.
Even in ministry, when someone has something on their mind, they know that the first thing I will say is, “Walk with me..”
So the cycle of walking and communicating with anyone who wants to go walking with me is, that it will be for conversation and encouragement or teaching.
So back to my story, as we are walking around our neighborhood, my granddaughter grabs a dandelion, and the rest of our clan sees this, my daughter yells out, “Look a dandelion.”
My one year old granddaughter looks at it intently for a few seconds as my family passes both of us. She looks around, seeing her mom and dad ahead about 10 yards and looks up at me and says, “Roarrrr!!”
I laughed so hard. My wife and grown adult children and grandson did not hear her. But I laughed, and I had a quick thought.
“33 Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad; for a tree is known by its fruit. ..34 For out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks…”—Matthew 12:34
You see, when we walk with God, we get the benefit of communication with the most incredibly powerful Being in the universe.
We get to see what He sees, learn what He is trying to teach us, and be discipled both in the good, and the not so good ways.
“”I will also walk among you and be your God, and you shall be My people.””—Leviticus 26:12
When we are steadily by God’s side, it is the best place to be.
This is where we get to take everything and anything off of us and give them to Him. Where He, in turn, shows us, teaches us, covers us, keeps us in the safety of His Being, while the storm rages over, or even when the sky is perfectly clear and warm.
“27 And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was written in all the Scriptures about Himself.”—Luke 24:27
The object of us walking with God is not to cherish the walk, but to cherish Him being by our side, knowing that we are in perfect harmony with The Almighty Redeemer of the universe. For us to:
Enjoy the conversation, the teaching, and the guiding.
So my granddaughter’s roaring like a lion was an extension of what she has been taught during the precious time with:
One, my daughter and son in law’s storytime with her; & two, my wife and I’s time reading the same story to her.
The precious time we all invest in our walk is where we find out who requires attention, encouragement, and counsel.
This is how God works with us, His sheep. He is continuously calling out to us, by our personal names. He invests time with every one of us, drawing us to Him, near Him, and with Him.
It is up to us not to miss the main point, which is definitely not the walk, but the precious quality time listening to God.
Just like my tradition of walking with those whom I love and cherish, God calls us to Him, to walk with Him. He wants to walk with His people. After all, He came down from Heaven twice in History.
“27 My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them out of My hand.…”—John 10:27
Once in the Garden, where he wanted to walk with Adam and Eve. And once when He came as a humble Carpenter. Both times, He tried to draw us close to Him, Both times, He called us to walk with Him.
Only those who are listening to His voice will hear Him. Be one of them…
