this week i learned

a thing or two about what it means to be food and drink for one another.

through two dear friends, neither of whom know each other, i was put into contact with a woman who has walked a path with her daughter for the past four years, a path of few words and disconnected signals from brain to body which baffle those of us whose signals are not disconnected. her daughter has apraxia, and a doctor thinks our vivienne might also. and so these friends thought kate might empathize with me.

so i wrote to her and told her of our journey so far and thanked her for letting me join her on a leg of this journey. then i was honest and admitted that i hope it is a short leg, hope like crazy viv has a language explosion and all these evaluations and fears are just a big ado about nothing.

and kate's words back were a balm for me. yes, she travelled this path of wondering and waiting. yes, yes, yes.

but then her last words killed me. 

I pray for some answers for you- ANY answers- so that you may find a path and begin to confidently walk it. 
I'll walk with you. 

 

i'll walk with you.

 

these words so full of grace and compassion and solidarity are my new favorite words. 

 

so that in what has been a difficult week in this boiler room community, when i didn't have much else to offer besides my prayers, i remembered kate's words:

i'll walk with you.

and i said them to two people i adore who are grieving. and meant it. 

and after his elder's meeting wednesday, t. said, with shiny eyes, that the people of Crossroads Bible Church have said to the Taatjes family, 

we'll walk with you.

which is, let's be honest, where the rubber meets the road. it's easy to say to someone that you're praying for them. it is not usually costly to pray for someone. not inconvenient either. i know, because i've done it. you can pray while doing the dishes or while driving and no one has to know that your prayer was practically an afterthought. it's not that prayer isn't powerful; i believe it to be more powerful than just about anything. it's just not always as involved.

but to walk with someone: messy. long. involved. tiring. 

which is why a near stranger telling me she'll walk with me on what could be a very long journey with vivienne, made me weep for the sheer grace of it.

and why walking with people who are grieving and angry and confused, is hard. 

when there is something in your path that you cannot go under, cannot go over, cannot go around, you have to go through it. and the going through part is easier if someone is holding your hand.

which of course, of course, is what Jesus did. in his own perfectly earthy, dirty-sandaled, fish-frying way, he walked. through lakes and deserts and into homes and up to people, walking walking walking with kids and his disciples and up to his death and out of the tomb, and on the road, he walked.

He walked with them because He loved them.

so what if we became a people who were not afraid to peer down the awkward and dark road ahead of somebody and say

i'll walk with you

?

what if?

i'll tell you what if: we'd become a walking army. we would significantly decrease the population of people who are walking lonely and sad. we might even lose a few pounds. 

what's not to love about that?

after the resurrection: Jesus gave his friends breakfast on the beach and then their marching orders. seriously.

::jenn::

 

 

 

Comments

[apil]

Praying....walking

[Ka-safford.blogspot.com]

your daughter is so blessed to have a parent like you to protect, nuture, support whatever it is that is troubling her. you have your friends to walk with you and how lovely it is for your daugther to have you

[Susan]

I'll walk with you, Vivi and your whole family as long as I live. I would love to do that. Always. Anytime. Anyway.

love you deep

[Megan]

Nearly standing on my stool and clapping. Very nearly doing that. Because your words are so honest and true. They ring they are so true. And we'll walk with you too. Never doubt it. Or how much I love and respect you. Walk on, sister.