My walking partner and I get together almost every day. In the early morning before my family is up we'll spend about an hour together. He does most of the talking--man, does he sound like a broken record! I want to talk about all the things I'm doing, mix in a little subtle boasting, and then hear some sympathy for the undeserved crosses I bear.
But he gets the first word in and, as a genteel Southerner, once he starts I don't interrupt. He talks a lot about himself, what he's done and his plans for the future. He's determined to change the world and goes on and on about it. Even when he's talking about others, it's still about himself--what they thought of him, what they said of him, and what he's going to do for people like this.
He's always saying stuff like this, "the way of holiness belongs to those that walk in the way; even if they are fools (is he referring to me?), they shall not go astray. Everlasting joy, shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, sorrow and sighing shall flee away."
Sometimes it can be hard to just keep listening; can't we talk about what I'm thinking about for a while? But by the end of the walk, if I've paid attention to him, I find that his words are much more helpful than mine.
("For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:9)
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