Today is a beautiful day!

I walk every morning after my kids get off to school. Sometimes my husband joins me and every morning my dog Yukon is with me. Today I intended to spend my time listening to Chris Tomlin and was going to meditate on the content of my coming speaking engagement. I came around the final corner of my one mile walk, (I know not very far) and I was pleasantly surprised when I ran into my sweet neighbor. We did the smile and wave thing and then she surprised me again by turning around to walk with me. I guess I'm so used to walking alone or with Grant that I had forgotten how nice it is to walk with another girl. We chatted easily and I walked faster than I would have alone. It was fun and we ended up walking around the block, twice.

I have to confess that I have not done a very good job reaching out to my neighbors. I'm content with my routine and don't always look for ways to change. It takes effort and I'm not always excited about doing much that takes effort. This morning was one of those mornings where I found God blessing me when I least expected it. In spite of myself and my lack of motivation to reachout, I was reminded that sometimes that's exactly what I need to do. Stretch the limits, try something new and move outside myself.
It would have been easy to stay fixed on my normal routine this morning. I could have passed her by and missed the chance to stretch myself a little. If I had, I would have missed the blessing of getting to know someone new and the potential of making a new friend. I'm happy to say that this morning I think I made a new friend. I think we may be walking again tomorrow. I'll keep you posted.