Hajja Salesjana

known through our abilities, but made perfect in our weakness  (2 Corinthians 12:9). When we learn to walk with God, our capacities for love and worship will outshine everything else in creation, but our walking — slow, weak, finite — will also show “that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us ” (2 Corinthians 4:7). Gait of Love Slow on its own, it should be said, does not mean healthy. Redeemed humans do not just slow down to walk, but walk  by the Spirit . Again, Paul says, “You were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. . . . Walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh.” (Galatians 5:13, 16) In other words, we don’t slow down and walk to serve ourselves — our desires, our hobbies, our dreams, our comfort. We don’t slow down mainly as some kind of self-help strategy. We slow down so that we can  love , first God and then others. We slow down to be more available to the people we meet — body, mind, heart, and ears — as Jesus was . We slow down to be a more attentive spouse, a more intentional roommate and friend, a more patient parent, a more engaged neighbor, a more faithful disciple of Jesus. We find the measured gait of love. And as we do, we know that walking in love will not typically be easy or comfortable, but often hard and strenuous — a slow, uphill battle for the next step. If we are walking well, though, the slower pace helps us  resist  the desires of the flesh, not gratify them. We leave room for interruptions, and we make room for rest, knowing that God uses regular rest to unleash a freer and more durable love. photos by Nighthawk Shoots, Naassom Azevedo, Roman Purtov - www.unsplash.com 30 Jannar-Marzu 2022 hajja