06/27/2023
Until recently, I always assumed sauntering was a negative description of aimless wandering when you have nothing better to do. Who has time to saunter? If I’m walking somewhere, I’m going there on purpose. I have direction. I have aim. Sauntering is a waste of time. Or so I thought. I just heard that last Monday was “World Sauntering Day.” Who knew?
Laura was actually the first person to help me discover that sauntering, in its own way, is very purposeful. The intent of sauntering is not to delay the journey but to embrace it. The goal is not simply to arrive at the destination, but to learn, grow, play, and become while we are on the way.
When Laura and I first started dating, we hiked up to a waterfall outside of Johnson City, TN. I wanted to get there. She wanted to saunter. That became a metaphor for the next 31 years of our marriage.
We need both—hiking and sauntering—and Laura and I have learned to complement one another, not compete with each other. She helps me saunter. I help her get to her destination. It’s a win-win.
John Muir (1838-1914), father of our National Parks, advocated sauntering in the wilds rather than hiking. “Away back in the Middle Ages,” he explained, “people used to go on pilgrimages to the Holy Land, and when they were asked where they were going, they would reply, `A la sainte terre,’ meaning, `To the Holy Land.’ And so they became known as `sainte-terre-ers’ or saunterers” (Pilgrimage: St. Aidan’s Way, Lectio 365).
Jesus sauntered. That doesn’t imply He wandered aimlessly on His journeys through Galilee and Judea. But on those dusty roads, His three-mile-an-hour pace afforded Him time to connect, visit, share, laugh and help others become whom He created them to be (Three Mile an Hour God, Koyama Kosuke).
“While walking by the Sea of Galilee…” (Matthew 4:18). “As he was walking in the temple…” (Mark 11:27). “As they were walking into the country…” (Mark 16:12). “And he looked at Jesus as he walked by…” (John 1:36).
A lot happened while and as Jesus walked. A lot can happen while we walk…or saunter…as well.
There are times I tell Laura we need to pick up the pace. We’re running late. We need to get to our destination. But more times than not, I need to be reminded that the destination is not the only goal; so is sauntering at a three-mile-an-hour pace, where we discover that who we are becoming is just as important to God as where we are going.
