A Walk in the Park

"Risk and awkwardness and vulnerability and pain are all parts of a healthy relationship, not reasons to avoid one. Whether it’s with your parents or with friends or with a potential marriage partner, embrace the beautiful messiness and joys of deep relationships."- Relevant Mag

Arm and arm we walked like nothing had happened. Our journey as friends had been anything BUT “A Walk in the Park.” He was making me laugh harder than I had in awhile. Usually conversations with him lead to tears on my bathroom floor later that night when the world was a sleep. Not tonight. With the cold nipping at our noses and the winter wind swirling all around us…we walked.

Both of us layered in our winter best: coats, cloves and scarves to protect us from the cold winds that blew all around us. With the moon and few streetlights as our only guides we strolled in the park—talking and laughing.

I found it appropriate that we both were holding a cup of coffee—we had made a stop on our way to the park that evening. 

For the first time we talked about what happened between us. Openly. Honestly.  We were no longer avoiding it. No longer just letting the past be in the past. No more excuses. We no longer could sweep everything under the rug. So we talked about the history we now share. 

But, all I could see was smiles. For the first time in a long time we smiled at each other…and it was real! We were in a good place. Not just with each other, but with God. He's the one that lead us here. 

Our journey had been anything BUT a walk in park. So how appropriate that that’s where we’d be…just walking. The cold, crisp, winter air also seemed to fit this moment of reconciliation, because, for a season, that’s what our so-called “friendship” felt like.

COLD!

But on this particular night…we embraced it. We layered up, locked arms, and willingly walked through the cold. The funny thing was, it didn’t seem in the least to bother either of us.

It was strange as I looked around because the air felt cold like winter, but the grass and trees were green like spring. There was a large oak tree to our right that was full of life. I had never seen a tree that big before. A black fence circled the park and a single bench to our left. The walkway we found ourselves on seemed to go from straight to curved as you came to the large oak tree. It curved around it effortlessly. 

In the midst of the cold…we found life.

For everything there is a season.

That’s what I wrote in my journal as I put the only picture I had of the two of us away safely in the pages of my journal with those words written above it: "For everything there is a season.”

I guess I had forgotten that yes, for everything there is a season, but after winter comes spring. New life springs forth from the ground. Even when we can't see it...God is working through winter to cause new  life to burst forth in spring. 

But as we walked through the park, on what seemed like a cold winters night, coffee in hand, the moon as our guide, our laughter filling the air, our friendship was given new life. 

It gave me hope.

Hope for healing.

Hope!

Not hope for a certain kind of future. Just hope that what once was a thriving friendship full of trust, mutual respect, joy and laughter would return. 

Hope. 

This is what God says,

    the God who builds a road right through the ocean,    who carves a path through pounding waves,The God who summons horses and chariots and armies—    they lie down and then can’t get up;    they’re snuffed out like so many candles:“Forget about what’s happened;    don’t keep going over old history.Be alert, be present. I’m about to do something brand-new.    It’s bursting out! Don’t you see it?There it is! I’m making a road through the desert,    rivers in the badlands.Wild animals will say ‘Thank you!’    —the coyotes and the buzzards—Because I provided water in the desert,    rivers through the sun-baked earth,Drinking water for the people I chose,    the people I made especially for myself,    a people custom-made to praise me.- Isaiah 43:1-6 (The Message)