Walking or traveling the same route on a consistent basis forces certain observations. Sometimes we are only vaguely aware of the voices stirred by these observations -- they often just whisper to us day after day. Sometimes observations scream. Sometimes the observation's voice is nagging or irritatingly persistent. But then ...

There are other times when the voices of present observations gang up with past observations and various other voices and God sends them whistling in with the accuracy of an expert archer releasing arrow after arrow in rapid fire succession right into the bullseye.

Let me tell you about a recent morning. Well, let me walk you through my journey.

There is a patch of a 2 lane highway that I walk on a fairly consistent basis. Half of my walk is traveled on the shoulder of the road and half has a sidewalk.

One consistent observation is the on-going battle between the mail delivery vehicle and the land owners. It is fought in front of every mail box.

I have observed that some people just keep putting out gravel. I've observed that they seem to be rewarded with a longer and longer entry & exit stripe made by the vehicle.

Then I've observed that one land owner tired of this and planted -- some years back -- some sizable "decorative" stones along the edges of the property. This has effectively limited the postal vehicle's destructive abilities.

These repetitive observations have come to remind me of my mother's slight resentment of the path our postman tracked through our yard. I vividly recall observing the slightly sunken path, the impact on the grass, and the impact of a new side fence.

Now, we are approaching our third summer season here in our little NY abode (and our 2yr anniversary of our unique moving experience).

The first summer, we passed a patch of exceedingly obnoxious plants along the way that leaned out and branched out (as if reaching for us) and forced us to walk the stripe along the highway. In winter they died back. And, I was pleased.

Last spring they started up so innocently small -- I convinced myself it could NOT be the same plant ... yeah.

So ... spring is once again beginning to win out over winter -- even though today seems like winter is making a come back. (Well, ok this was originally written yesterday -- gloomy, cold, windy, very windy. Today is beautiful, sunny, & threatening to be warmish -- all of 67F.)

One day, about two weeks ago, I was walking past this particular patch of (currently dead) plants and I was, again, telling God how nice I thought it would be if He would put it into someone's head to care about mowing that particular patch. Yes, again. Again I was saying it again.

Then the two arrows of past & present observations hit the bullseye in my brain. If the postman could create a path by walking once a day -- what if I walked over the ground -- over these plants -- instead of the pavement?

Then God sailed in the voice of the third arrow. It hit the bullseye of my brain and of my heart.

You cannot claim a path unless you walk it -- Deliberately, habitually walk it.