How I Imagine Jesus to Have Walked

How to take the time to slow down and appreciate the journey in God's creation in a world that pushes us from destination to destination.

I imagine Jesus to have walked calmly and slowly, taking in every aspect of nature and the beauty that it entails. I, however, do not walk this way. I get caught up in where I’m supposed to be and how I’m already late because, ask my friends, punctuality is not my strong point. I rush along people, frustrated at those walking slower than me, or two people who take up the entire sidewalk when I know they could make room for me to pass. As I walk like this, I miss it. I miss the beauty, the nature, the part that God took time to create for me to enjoy.

In Genesis, God talks about how he needs someone to tend to the garden. To tend means to carefully handle each and every aspect of what was given to care for. This doesn’t mean to quickly rush to get the job done so that you can be onto the next thing, it means to take the time to fully be able to tend to the plants and garden that God has created for us. He wanted us to be able to marvel at each plant and creature because he made them for us to tend to. Yet here I am, rushing by with no thought about anything, but my path and getting to my destination.

I can’t imagine Jesus walking like this. I imagine him specifically looking at everything on his path from one town to the next, marveling at his own creation. I imagine him stopping to smell the flowers or to take in the scenery when they reach the top of a hill. I imagine him embracing all we were intended to care for. I also imagine his disciples trying to rush him, questioning why he has to stop so many times when they know they have places to be to show off his miracles and evangelize all the citizens in the next town. But Jesus knew God had the timing of it already set, so he knew he had time to slow down. Jesus already knew what was to come and so I imagine him to take the time to thank God for the creation before him.

This leads me to think: How many times have I missed it? How many times have I been so focused on arriving at the destination that I missed what God was trying to show me on the journey there? How many times was God flashing a billboard in my face in the form of a sunset saying “If I put effort into making this to be so beautiful and grand, how could you possibly doubt that I didn’t put a hundred times that when I made you?”

“How many times was God flashing a billboard in my face in the form of a sunset saying 'If I put effort into making this to be so beautiful and grand, how could you possibly doubt that I didn't put a hundred times that when I made you?'"

In Matthew, Jesus is talking to his disciples about the birds and how God provides for them. Now there are a lot of birds in the world, heck in Arizona there are 551 different species of birds, and God provides the unique needs for each and every bird. Jesus continues and states that if God can care for these creatures, He cares so much more for his people as those were made in his image. Jesus knew that God would provide so he knew he could take his time in walking. He could take time to admire the beauty of the creation and the journey he was on because he knew that the destination would be there when he got there. My prayer is that I can do the same. That I can walk humbly and in awe of God’s creation . Not trying to rush where I’m going to do when I get there, just walk as I imagine Jesus to have walked