Walk This Way

In the block of scripture for last week's Come Follow Me study, the Lord said to Enoch, "Walk with me" (Moses 6:34). For several days, I've had that phrase bumping around in my head. 

In a lot of artwork, Jesus is depicted walking. Sometimes He is alone, and sometimes he is with others, but anytime He is alone, there is space beside Him for someone to walk with Him. 

As I've pondered what it means to walk with the Savior, I've thought about some of the ways the act of walking has been significant in my life.

I remember walking with my grandma, Lois, as a young child while we were camping. In my mind, I was just tagging a long, but my grandma was trying to get in some exercise, and on that walk she told me told me that I should be able to walk a mile in 15 minutes. I've always remembered my grandma telling me that, and anytime I take more than 15 minutes to walk a mile (which is almost always) I think, "Uh-oh! Grandma won't like this!"

My other grandma, Marlene, used to go walking every morning at the church next to my house with her friend. Everyday, as I walked to school, I got to say hello to my grandma. 

Before we could drive, my best friend, Michelle, and I would always walk to each other's houses. We always met in the middle, then continued in the direction of the house we were headed to. We usually ended up meeting in the field at the elementary school. We did this so often, there was a path worn in the grass.

As a fifteen year old, I won Scotty's heart by walking past his house multiple times a day, so he and I could just happen to run into each other. Michelle was always with me, and she thereby ran into a husband for herself (Scotty's step-brother, Kyle). 

The first thing I ever did with my friend Shannon was go for a walk. We made walking part of our regular routine and went at least three times a week. We kept going earlier and earlier in the morning because we wanted more time to talk. We did this for over a year before Shannon had to move out of state. 

After Shannon moved, I started walking with Julie, whom Shannon and I would pass going the opposite direction on our morning walks. Julie and I have been walking together regularly for about five years now. It's very therapeutic to have someone to talk to multiple times a week. 

But on a more serious note...

Several years ago, my friend lost a baby to stillbirth. She wanted to tell me about it, and I wanted to hear about it, but we didn't know how to be emotionally vulnerable face to face, so we walked together. The weather was horrible, and it was garbage day. The wind was blowing over everyone's garbage cans, so she and I walked about the neighborhood, picking up trash and standing garbage cans back up one after another as we mourned the loss of her sweet child.

On another occasion, a friend of mine was struggling with thoughts of suicide. On a night where the urge to die was particularly strong, I asked her to come walk with me. She had just been released from the hospital after an attempt to end her life, and the weight of staying alive was still too much for her. I didn't know what to say to her, but I just wanted to make sure she wasn't alone. All I could do was link arms with her and walk the streets in the dark. 

I now look back on those two walks, in particular, as sacred. 

In the book I wrote about recently, What Happened to You? Oprah and Dr. Perry mentioned several times that "...doing things with movement and rhythm offers a more connected way of communicating." Rhythm and movement can help you regulate yourself - which is essentially calming you to a point where you can react from a different part of your brain (read more here). We are naturally drawn to rhythm and movement. That is why things like drumming and dance are such a big part of various cultures and why it feels so natural to bounce or rock a baby. Dr. Perry mentioned walking as one of these movements, and Oprah commented that walking has always been incredibly healing for her, and in times of stress, that's one of her first responses - to go walk it off. 

I found the research fascinating because there's always been something about walking - something more than just getting from one place to another. A friend of mine has mentioned before that her son opens up to her much more when they walk together. My hypothesis was that this is because you don't have to make eye contact when you're walking next to someone (and there's probably something to that), but maybe the bigger component is the rhythmic movement that settles and soothes us. 

Even though we don't literally "walk" with Christ at this point in our eternal journey, I still think there is some significance to the imagery the phraseology provides. 

To walk with Christ, we would face the way He is facing and head the way He is heading. We would be close to Him - close enough to “hear Him.” We might even link arms with Him, like I did while walking with my friend who couldn't bear the weight of living. 

In walking with Him, we can adopt sacred rhythms - each step a repetitive act:

Right step - repent.

Left step - take the sacrament.

Right step - attend the temple.

Left step - study the scriptures.

Right, left, right, left - creating a rhythmic pattern in our lives that offers us His healing. 

The reading passage for last week goes on to say that after Enoch received the invitation to "walk with me," he did, indeed, "walk" with God (Moses 6:39). Then later on (in this week's reading) Enoch was able to gain the confidence to say to the Lord, "I know thee" (Moses 7:59). 

One of the greatest benefits of walking with others throughout my life is that I've been able to get to know them more deeply and personally. I would love nothing more than to have that experience with the Savior and to be able to say, like Enoch, "I know thee because I walked with thee."