When I was in school, I often babysat for families and churches on the side to earn extra money. I’ve watched a lot of kid’s TV shows over the years, and my favorite by far was Veggie Tales. I enjoyed their creative characters, lighthearted plots, and silly, catchy songs just as much as the kids did.
The Intimidating Wall of Jericho
Recently, the lyrics from one of those old silly songs came back to me in my prayer time. The characters are out in the desert, walking and walking in circles around the intimidating wall of Jericho while being taunted from above:
Keep walking, but you won’t knock down our wall.
Keep walking, but she isn’t gonna fall!
It’s plain to see that your brains are very small
to think walking will be knocking down our wall!
Here’s the scene for those of you unfamiliar.
The Walk Is Not The Catalyst
We’ve been talking these last few weeks about the invitation to walk and that each step we take on the path toward God demonstrates our intention to open the door and let God enter the hidden places within to bring healing and wholeness.
Sometimes as I walk this path, I feel like I am just going around in circles, always finding myself back where I started with nothing to show for my trouble. But like the march on Jericho, the walk is not the catalyst for change at all. The walk is the intention. The walk is the sign of trust and of participation in what God is doing.
Keep Walking
It is not my job to will cracks into those walls with each step I take. It is God who brings the impenetrable walls crashing down after the silence and waiting. I have only to take a step, and then another, and then another –holding space for myself in the silence where God is doing all the work.
And that is my prayer for each of us, fellow pilgrims, that we will keep walking the path toward God, keep holding space for ourselves in our times of silent contemplation, keep trusting that God will bring to completion the good work begun in each of us–as God has promised.
May we all keep walking!