Walk A Mile

Last week our car broke down when I was on the way to ladies Bible study. I ended up walking from where the car broke down to the church. It was only about a half mile there (and again on the way back), but I learned a few things on that walk. 

If you tend to drive most places, then I guarantee you have no idea what it’s like to be a walker. Everyone that comes to our church walks there, and from much farther than a half mile away. In the past sometimes I got frustrated when people were late, or just didn’t come to church at all.

However, on that short walk, I got a much better idea of what they experience, and now have more sympathy and patience, having walked part of that way myself. 

– You don’t realize how much air conditioning protects you from the smells outside until you’re walking past the garbage dumpsters at close range. 

– There is a LOT more broken glass around than you can see from a car window. You certainly notice it when you’re actively trying to keep it out of your flip flops.

– You don’t hear comments of other people when you pass in a car. When you walk past them you hear them all, good and bad.

– You can work up a great sweat when you walk without an umbrella in the Zambian sun. 

– If it’s raining hard, the way becomes muddy and slippery. Not easy to navigate. Not sure I would walk over a mile to church in nasty weather. 

– It was a great feeling to see faces transform as I greeted them with a smile as I walked past, and then turned and saw them turning to look and smile back at me. 

I honestly feel like I want to walk to Bible study every week just because it was an opportunity to at least greet people and start a relationship. So many of them are there along the way every day…and I never really gave them a thought before.

Shame on me. 

It’s true that you really cannot know what a person experiences until you’ve walked a mile in their shoes. Show compassion to everyone you meet, regardless of circumstances. You never know how hard it was for them to get to where they met you. 

You can reach a lot more people by walking the path with them than blowing past them in the car with the windows up.