THE CLARITY WALK

Since coming back from Indianapolis, after staying a month with my family back in Chicago, I’ve been taking advantage of the nice weather and the nice neighborhood by taking walks on the trail near me. I used to take walks back Back at Notre Dame, because my job was located on a nice, walkable campus.

Since moving and settling in Indy, my walks have been few and far between. My three different job locations, my attempts at being social, and my never-ending to-do list prevented me from slowing down, taking a break, and enjoying some fresh air. But after being stuck in a house with four other people due to the stay-at-home order and the iffy neighborhood, I couldn’t wait to go back to Indy, go outside, and hit the Monon Trail. 

After a couple of days of taking walks, however, I found myself going back to my previous debate: whether walks were worth it or a waste of time.

Before quarantine, the “waste of time” argument always won. Plus, it was cold then, so it was easy to convince myself to stay indoors. But this season has included several changes of events and a new mindset for me. New creative ideas and focuses to tackle have led me to want to DO a lot while forcing me to make time to think and process. The latter I tend to ignore, because I’d much rather do something than sit and think about it, especially in this time when my options of “doing” are limited.

But yesterday, when I was having that debate with myself whether it was worth it to go outside, prayerfully, I ended up deciding to take that walk - ignoring every internal alarm saying, What are you doing?? You have so much to do! 

I’m so thankful I took the walk, because it led me to some fascinating realizations. Realizations like how I have been so out of focus lately, one of the reasons for that because I haven’t been talking with people as often as I usually do to release some of my too-many thoughts. I realized that I haven’t been allowing myself to think through things fully, like what kind of work I actually enjoy doing for my part time work versus what I’ve been job searching. (I am obviously not replacing my current worship leader position, but talking about the other jobs I had before being furloughed.) Realizations like how much I truly enjoy being outside and taking walks.

And upon returning to my apartment, I realized something else - ignoring the necessity to make time to think and process is how my creative ideas, my healing and my growth get abandoned and is how I pick up stress and fatigue. 

Of course, when the weather is bad, I’m not going to be taking walks (rain and my hair don’t mix), but I do know that spending quiet time with God in the morning isn’t enough without enough time just to think, listen, and process. I used to think that ten minutes of listening would do the trick and then I could go back to watching TV, or even an hour of cooking without any other noise. But I realized I need a good chunk of time to not be distracted by anything at all to hear God clearly and what He wants to teach me. 

Have you gone on a clarity walk recently?

- Coty Miller, Worship Director