Go walking and don't miss God's creation

In an effort to keep this body that God gave me in working order, I try to exercise on a regular basis.

Because of the particular thyroid disease that I have, I am limited in the exercises I can do, and my illness can cause extreme exhaustion.

Walking and swimming seem to be my best options. So on this particular morning, I started off on a three-mile walk.

By my side were my dachshund Rosie and my Labrador Ebony (the dachshund is only good for one mile and then she goes and lies on the porch and waits for me).

The day was cold but sunny with a light wind. It was the perfect day for walking and taking in God’s creation. After going a mile, I realized I wasn’t looking at God’s creation at all.

My mind was going a hundred miles an hour on things that I needed to do. I was mentally planning my lessons for school. I didn’t need to think about those because I had already written them down.

Since this was a Saturday, I was thinking about how I was going to deliver my sermon the next day at church.

That specific sermon had been written three weeks ago and I had reviewed it already several times. I was happy with it.

Worst of all, political candidates were flying through my thought like shooting stars. What was that about? I am not a very political person, so those thoughts took me by surprise.

When I realized what I was doing, it made me pause and wonder why I react this way when I don’t need to. At this point, I did look around and I was amazed at what I experienced.

The air was filled with the just the slightest hint of rotting corn stalks, which reminded me that in the spring, they would provide food for the new corn that would be planted.

What a wonderful growing system God has created. The old becomes food for the new. I would have totally missed it if I had not taken the time to look.

Tiny green blades of new grass were also peeking through the ground promising that spring was on the way.

The robins were back, the black birds were creating an unmelodic noise in the tops of the trees and the poplar trees themselves were starting to turn yellow.

Nature was moving forward without me because I had let “life” weigh me down.

Are you taking a few moments in your life to see what God is doing or are you just trying to get by and feeling the weight of your responsibilities press in on you?

We all need to remember that God is always there for all of us. All we need to do is stop and really see what He has to offer.

Letting God in will help you deal with all the other stuff in your life.