A New Route

This morning Moo suggested we walk a new route. I told him that I had mapped out a new route on Nike.com, so we decided to walk that route. When we got to the main street, traffic was a bit heavy,(yes, even in the country, traffic can be heavy lol) so we decided to cross the street and walk a less congested path.  Shortly after we started down a side street, we encountered dogs barking at us. I looked at Moo. He immediately said, “I know mama, don’t be scared, just keep walking.” So we kept walking, even though one of the dogs came close to us. We kept walking, taking in the new sights….and of course, Moo talking and talking and talking. So we came to an intersection and I didn’t know which way to go to get back to the main road. Moo could sense my indecision, but he wasn’t afraid ( I don’t think lol). He suggested we go right. And we did, but it didn’t lead us to the main road. This time when we came to another intersection, I suggested we go left and we made it to the main road. We decided to continue the road I mapped out, so we walked on the main road, in single file, like we were in school. We continued our route on familiar ground and finally made it home. When I looked at my Nike app, I found we had gone over 2 miles this morning!!! These are the thoughts I had during and after the walk this morning: 1) I know that sometimes it seems like our kids are not listening to us, but they are listening and we should keep talking – Moo remembered what I told him months ago about ignoring the dogs and they won’t bother you…2) Oftentimes, when we start on a new path, we will encounter trials/obstacles/”dogs” that will try to scare us, distract us, stop us in our tracks, but God wants us to ignore those “dogs” and keep looking straight ahead, believing what we know to be true verses what we see; believing that we are safe and won’t be hurt….3) Taking a new path can be rewarding and lead to new experiences – if we hadn’t gone on the new path, I probably wouldn’t have learned that camels and cows chew in rotation and we probably wouldn’t have walked over two miles…PLUS I got to see pretty magnolia trees, glads, and hostas!!!! 4) Going down a new path can be energizing – Moo and I felt like we could walk further this morning – even though we were walking and sweating, we were enjoying ourselves and the time went by very fast….5) Starting a new behavior/job/life, etc can be very challenging and fear can keep you from moving forward, but if we know/realize that there will be obstacles, keep our focus on God, commit to learning new things along the way, and enjoy the good times, we will be glad we stepped out in faith….