Rainy Walk

Eddie Rabbit certainly loved a rainy night, but I think a rainy walk is far better for the soul.

Long walks have a way of relieving my tension.

About fifteen years ago, I had a two week period of where my family and I were going through some personal turmoil.  Every day I would take a walk and every day during that period I felt God met me on that walk.  He gave me comfort and strength that only He could give to face another uncertain day.  There is also something about the rain that helps me forget about everything else swirling in my life and helps me regain focus.

That was most definitely the case a few weeks ago, in early October, when I needed to take the company vehicle in for an oil change. It was raining, chilly and ugly out and I just felt this deep need to walk anyway. 

The reason I decided to go for a mile walk after I dropped off the vehicle was to get a dollar coffee from a convenience store.  I knew despite having an umbrella that I would get my feet and possibly more, because of the shifting wind.  There was no one else even out on the sidewalks, at least where there were sidewalks in this rural area, and there was grassy slopes in some spots. This mile or so walk gave me lots of time to think and lots of things to observe and learn from everywhere I turned.

Alongside the road in the grass, this is what I found discarded:

1-Perrier bottle   2-Dunkin Donuts coffee cup 3-McDonald’s hamburger wrapper 4-Lottery ticket 5-DO NOT TURN sign.

What do all five of these items represent?  Here is my best response to that question:

1-Perrier bottle -Someone with an expensive taste for water, who was too lazy to dispose of his or her expensive bottle properly.  Possibly, they felt entitled to throw the trash wherever they wanted.

2-Dunkin Donuts coffee cup- There always seems to be a discarded coffee container whenever I go for a walk.  Maybe people just don’t care or are in a hurry and think no one will notice.

3- McDonald’s hamburger wrapper-  This gives a whole new definition for eating on the run.  Makes sense though, because busy people often tend to think they don’t have enough time and often excuse themselves from following proper etiquette.  Or perhaps the person was just lazy.

4- Lottery ticket- The obvious reason is the person gave the ticket a toss because was it was not a winner.  Disgust can motivate us to do irresponsible things.  No way would someone throw something valuable out their window.

5- DO NOT TURN sign- My guess is that a fairly large vehicle hit this sign and mangled it.  Perhaps, the driver didn’t have any time to do anything proper with it, so it was left discarded randomly on the side of the road. Maybe,  it even did some damage to their vehicle and they cast it off in a rage.

It has been my experience, that people and objects often seem more real when you are wet from walking in the rain.  Long walks tend to diffuse the stupid, senseless thoughts in life.  Tired muscles help you focus on what TRULY MATTERS: God, family, others and dry clothes.

Rainy walks are known to help shift your focus on to things that truly matter.

Swavel