Wandering
Practice
Walk around your neighborhood or other places when other people are out.
Give your attention to the subtle and small details of people and place.
Be curious, follow sounds and smells instead of relying on Google Maps to guide you.
Stop and listen to people longer without the need to go somewhere else.
Pray to be present. Ask Jesus to help you see the place and people the way He does.
“All that is gold does not glitter, Not all those who wander are lost…”
Wandering is a practice to be present to what is around you. Wandering is walking with intention, but without an intended destination. Wandering is a choice and practice that expands your propensity and capacity for wonder. And, wandering leads you discover and delight in people and places that you most likely would have missed had you been intending to get somewhere.
Pat Harrison has a history of wandering. “MBWA is what I’ve called it for years,” Pat kindly shares his wisdom from his years of wandering with me in an unhurried conversation over coffee, “Ministry By Wandering Around.” Pat and his wife Sarah have provided hospitality and pastoral care to their neighbors and neighborhood for 22 years. Pat makes the point convincingly that much of Jesus’ life and work was being available to be interrupted. A conversation with Pat leads me to believe wandering was a significant part of the practice of Jesus.
Wandering for Pat and his wife Sarah can look like walking around the neighborhood, museums, or the botanic gardens in our city. It may be meeting people while hiking or camping. A simple prayer accompanies their wandering practice, “Show us who we are supposed to have a conversation with. Help us see the place we are in the way You do.” Pat’s wisdom on wandering is endless, “There are no accidents in meeting people.”
Wandering is a counter script to the often overly scheduled lives centered around efficiency and productivity. Wandering is a practice that cultivates curiosity, looking to be interrupted by the world around you. When we are willing to wander, we have the possibility of being present to what is around us.
