World events continue to remind me that love is about action.
When something bad happens, the “thoughts and prayers” come out. It’s great to see people loving others with their thoughts and prayers, their feelings and words. But feeling sorry and saying the right words doesn’t change what happened.
And it doesn’t prevent that bad thing from happening again and again and again. That holds true for any bad thing, from your preschooler dropping their bright red drink on your brand new white carpet, to the latest tragedy filling our news screens.
Change doesn’t come through words alone. Change comes with action. And action is how we show our love.
I was reminded of the old Proclaimers song, I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles). I’m sure anyone of a certain age will remember the song, especially the chorus:
I would walk five hundred miles
And I would walk five hundred more
Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles
To fall down at your door
(Yes, you’re going to be humming that all day. #SorryNotSorry.)
Because this is the age of the internet, someone has drawn a map showing where The Proclaimers would actually be able to walk via the road network, vs. where they’d be able to go if they were to walk in the air.
Yes, if they were able to walk in the air (instead of being confined to this mortal earth), they could get to Iceland. The country, not the supermarket chain (that’s probably 500 yards).
For those of us in the metric world (pretty much everywhere except the UK and US), 500 miles is around 800 kilometres. To put that in context, if The Proclaimers started walking from their home in Leith, Edinburgh, Scotland, 500 miles would put them somewhere in northern France. And if they decided to walk the full 1,000 miles without turning around, they’d be in Poland or Portugal.
Closer to home, 1,000 miles is roughly the distance from Auckland to Bluff (although that includes one ferry crossing). Or it’s the distance from Adelaide to Uluru. But you wouldn’t want to walk that—the desert would likely kill you. Or the locals would. (Not the people—the snakes and spiders.)
Yes, Australia is a big country. And walking 1,000 miles for someone is definitely love in action.
That got me wondering about Jesus and how many miles he walked in his three years of ministry. Israel is 263 miles from north to south, and 71 miles wide at the widest point. I asked Google, and of course there was an answer.
3,125 during his three years of ministry.
Yes, Jesus walked 500 miles and then he walked 500 more. That’s a long way. A lot of walking to tell the people of Israel and Samaria the good news. He did the same in each year of his three-year ministry.
But walking 500 miles (and 500 more) wasn’t the only way Jesus showed his love in action. He made the ultimate gesture of love, by dying for us. As we read in John 15:13 (NIV):
Great post, Iola. Walking 1000 miles in a year sounds like a lot, but it’s really only 1000/365 = 2.73 miles a day. Most of us could do that if we decide we want to. A “brisk” walk is 2.5 to 4 miles per hour, with 3 not even being a moderate rate for someone in reasonable shape. We could saunter and stroll more than 2.75 miles a day, and we could show a lot of God’s love to others on our way.
I didn’t stop to work it out, but you’re right. That’s an inspiring thought as well – how much we can achieve if we take it a step at a time (literally, in this case). Thanks for the inspiration!
Yes! Love in action! I feel tired even thinking about how far they walked, but I know God’s love gives us supernatural ability to go above and beyond our human limits. May our hearts be sincere and our actions follow! Thanks for the challenge, Iola.
I feel tired just reading Carol’s oh-so-sensible and logical comment!
A bit late reading this post, but I love The Proclaimers and that song in particular!