Counting My Blessings (Erin Jean Warde)
My walking has become an opportunity to count my blessings.
Counting My Blessings
Hello friends,
First, I apologize for disappearing yet again. The weeks have either been too long or too short, I’m not sure. However, I’m trying to get back to it.
This weekend, I’ll be furiously knocking out as much as I can, before I drive to Louisville, KY on Tuesday for the Episcopal Church’s General Convention. If you’re there, come see me at the United Thank Offering booth! I’ll be there to promote the new podcast I’m hosting with UTO! (Read more below.)
But today, I want to talk to you about something else — walking. After my sister died, depression really placed an anvil on my heart, in emotional and physical ways. I have had a year and a half of depression induced sedentary life. Â
But over the past few weeks, I’ve been awakening a little bit. Walking again. I’ve been consistently walking 3-4 times a week, striving to get that closer to 5. The most interesting part of this is that when I don’t walk, I miss it.
Example: I had too many things I needed to do before a 9a.m. call today to go on a walk, but the second I opened my windows this morning I caught a fresh breeze and thought — dang, I’m missing a good one. The fact that I’m now missing it gives me such hope.
I’ve never been a gym person. I’ve always been a walking person. I think part of it is the joy of being outside.Â
Because I started walking in Spring, there’s a very special highlight on my walks — bunnies! Yesterday I saw 5, sometimes I only see 1 or 2. But so far, every day I have walked, I have seen bunnies, and they bring me immense joy. There’s a section of the route I usually walk that always seems to have them, and it’s about a 20 minute walk there and back. On the days when I have the time to walk some, but not a full hour, I just go see the bunnies. (And I’m hoping to at least TRY to go see them later today.)
The other amazing part of this new practice of walking is simply the cool air on my skin. There’s something about the air in the morning, how it can awaken goosebumps even in June. (I didn’t experience this in Texas, lol.)
The other radical shift I’ve experienced with my walking is that I often go completely tech free, which seems unimaginable. (And y’all know more than most about my forever discernment about my relationship with my phone & social media.)
That’s right folks — no texting, no scrolling, no email, no nothing. I don’t even take my phone, my AirPods, nothing. I just grab my keys and walk out the door.Â
Entering into a cadence of starting my days without being tethered to my phone has felt like freedom.
My walking has also become an opportunity to count my blessings.Â
Birdsong
Bunnies
Crisp airÂ
And more. It’s such a simple practice, but it’s prayer, and I’m grateful.Â
I’m trying to think about how we might spend our time here. Unsurprisingly, I have about a million thoughts. But for now, I think I’m going to just keep trying to show up. There might be weeks with no newsletter but I’m trying to fix that. (I know there won’t be one next week, because I will be subsumed into General Convention, lol.) And — the best part — I’m in some new communities, taking a new course, and working with a health coach, all of which is awakening my creativity, too. I can’t wait to share that with y’all.
Forever counting y’all as blessings,
EJW
Each week, Rev. Erin Jean explores the messages of gratitude and good news we find in scripture, the world around us, the wisdom of special guests, and through our own spiritual practice. In a struggling and stressful world, it can feel like we need hope to make it through the day, and a reminder of the goodness and blessing that remain around us, even during challenging seasons. Now streaming on your favorite podcasting app!