Walking Each Other Home Because No One Should Walk Alone
The famous Ram Dass quote says,
“We’re all just walking each other home.”
Don’t let anyone walk alone,
if you can walk with them,
even part way.
You all know by now I’m a prairie girl.
I grew up on a farm, with our nearest neighbors at least 1/4 mile away.
None of the children within a mile’s radius of us were exactly my age,
but that didn’t stop us from being friends.
And playing together whenever we could. And then,
our friends would say, “We have to be home by dark.”
And you’d say, “I’ll walk you home.”
You’d crunch down the gravel road, chatting away, and suddenly you were all the way to their driveway before you knew it.
Then the friends would say, “We’ll walk you part way back,” so you didn’t have to go all the way alone.
It wasn’t dark yet, so walking each other home could be quite a nice extension to the visit.
Each reaching our own driveways just by the time our parents deemed it “dark.”
Why did we walk each other home?
I can think of several reasons.
- We enjoyed each other.
- We didn’t want to say good bye.
- Tacit understanding that no one wants to walk alone.
- To keep each other safe when darkness loomed.
Sometimes older siblings came out and joined us as we walked.
That made it so much more enjoyable, listening to their stories, absorbing their wisdom.
(Well, wisdom fits in with our story today! 🙂 And they did try to set us straight sometimes.)
God will walk with us
as we walk each other home.
”
And, behold, two of them went that same day
to a village called Emmaus,
which was from Jerusalem about threescore furlongs.
And they talked together of all these things which had happened.
And it came to pass, that,
while they communed together and reasoned,
Jesus himself drew near,
and went with them.
“
Luke 24:13-15
The disciples on the Emmaus road were walking each other to their destination.
Then Jesus came along and walked with them.
How much better can a walk get?
Ruth walked Naomi home, because she knew it was the right direction for her life, too. “Thy people shall be my people,” she said.
Everyone in the world should be our people.
We should make sure no one walks alone.
And be right beside them when darkness looms in their lives.
Most of all, enjoy the journey,
walking each other home.