Talk Walks

There are numerous benefits of walking, and walking with partners adds to the benefits. I have a few friends that join me for our six a.m. walks. When the alarm sounds after a too-short night of sleep, knowing that someone is expecting me to be dressed and in my walking shoes within the next few minutes is the thing that gets me out of bed when I'd much rather spend a little more time staring at the inside of my eyelids. Having others walk with me also helps keep me paced so I don't go too slow. As I am the oldest (by about sixteen years or more) of the group, it is good to have young ladies who can encourage me up the hills and who will hang onto me going down steep, gravelly inclines. And the greatest benefit of all is the talking.

Here's the most recent example of how our talk walks benefit me. I talked to Rebecca about my feelings toward my new calling. The previous afternoon she had just read a paragraph in a book that fit the situation perfectly, and last night she stopped and dropped off the quote that helped me shed the feelings of despair I had over being "stuck" on a piano bench again for two hours every Sunday. As a result, this afternoon I was led to the LDS Church website and read more about my calling, and from there went to sugardoodle.com, and I read some blogs written by other people about being Primary pianists (who all said it was the "best" calling in the Church!), and I found some lovely arrangements of Primary songs that I can use for prelude music.

I have overcome! Once again the young ladies I walk with have helped me up a hill that seemed a little too hard to handle for this old body (and soul) of mine.

I am thankful for a loving Heavenly Father who knows how to reach me in my darkest hours, and to friends who listen and are ready to respond when the Spirit directs them to do so. I love my Talk Walks!!!