Walking Into My Spiritual Wellness - By Athena Morrison

WALKING INTO MY SPIRITUAL WELLNESS

By Athena Morrison

Back in March of 2020, I was laid off from my job due to Covid-19. What do you do when your daily schedule becomes a thing of the past? Well, I decided that this was a good time to sleep in, watch TV, and eat whenever and whatever I felt like. After indulging in this for two months, I began to experience pain in my hips and lower back where walking became so uncomfortable. I decided to visit my primary care physician who informed me that I had gained a substantial amount of weight and my overall health was going in the wrong direction. Here I was, sitting around all day watching TV, moving around minimally, not even leaving home to go food shopping (my son was doing that for me), and I was surprised at this revelation. Fast forward. Around the second week of June, I found a willing partner and we began a daily walking routine. I have since lost some weight, the pain I was experiencing is almost gone and I have changed my diet. I have found that walking has made me clear headed and more in tune with my body. With this clear-headedness, I have [re]discovered my love of reading and the Bible was the perfect place for continuing that love. There in the bible, I found the perfect scripture for where I found myself: Galatians 5:16: “I say then: Walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.” When I began my daily walks, this scripture spoke to me in a very spiritual way. I became curious and looked at other scriptures that spoke of walking and found the following: Romans 6: 1-4 says, “What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? Therefore, we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.” (NKJV) These scriptural lessons about lust of flesh, sin, grace, baptism, death and best of all-- walking in the newness of life are perfect for my walk into spiritual wellness. To this end, I have come to realize that walking has made me physically and spiritually healthier, so, I will continue walking and encouraging others to do the same all the while-- thanking God for these eyeopening blessings.