"Solvitur Ambulando"

One of my dearest friends handed me a piece of paper with the above Latin quotation a few weeks ago. She smiled as she handed it to me saying, "I have a present for you." I have thought about this quotation, credited to St. Augustine, ever since Mary Beth gave it to me.
Translated, it is simply, "It is solved by walking." 

My friend knows me very well, and she also knows that even though St. Augustine said it first, I have come to the same conclusion as this great Christian thinker. I spend an inordinate amount of my time walking. Of course, given my druthers, that walking would take place on a mountain trail in Colorado, on a beach in the panhandle of Florida, through an old-growth forest in Alaska, along a rocky cove in California, you get my drift; some place that is really, really beautiful. But, if I am not in a picture-postcard environ, I will walk, anyway. I walk through my neighborhood, I walk on dusty, country roads, I walk in malls, airports- wherever I may find myself with time to put one foot in front of the other.

In the summer, when I am in the mountains, I walk with Babe, my Labrador Retriever, at least twice every day, usually more. We walk the Fish Road, at the ranch, every morning. That walk might be a mile-and-a-half, it might be four miles. Later, we will hike. Sometimes, we hike with friends. Sometimes, we hike alone. These hikes are might be filled with:

1. Gossip
2. Dirty Jokes
3. Laughter
4. Tears
5. Deep, Intense Conversation
6. Silence
7. Recipe-Exchanging
8. Complaining
9. Advice-Seeking
10.Advice-Giving
11. Venting
12. Future-Planning
13. Confessing
14. Soul- Searching
15. All of the above
16. None of the above

Then, after supper, Babe and I go for a quick hike or walk the Fish Road again. If this seems excessive,  I am unapologetic. My sanity, my faith, my physical health are all better for this excess. When I am alone with my dog, not really thinking about anything, a problem will unwind and unknot in my mind and be resolved. It is through no great effort on my part, I may not even be consciously aware of the process that goes into the solution. There is something freeing, soothing, therapeutic and wonderful about walking that leads to peaceful resolution of many of my cares and worries. My best prayer time, my most profound encounters with my Creator and myself have happened as I have walked. My deepest fears are quieted,  my best talks with friends take place, my heaviest burdens lighten significantly. 

A couple of months ago, I read a book that involves lots of walking. The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry, by Rachel Joyce , may be the best book I read in 2012. I read many books, and I will probably review some of them later. This book, I can recommend whole- heartedly. When I first read it, I had several friends, including Mary Beth, read it to determine it was really THAT GOOD, or if I was over-selling it by telling everyone I saw that they HAD to read it. Most of my friends were profoundly affected by the story. So, after taking almost a year off from blogging, I will close out 2012 with a whole-hearted endorsement of Ms. Joyce's book. I told one of my friends that I thought we should read it as part of a Bible Study group, and she pointed out that the profanity and cursing would probably preclude Pilgrimage as a study selection. Perhaps, but I still think it would be a great choice.  

Love and Grace,

Paige