Yesterday, when our youngest grandson was visiting, we took a walk. His mother had brought a warm snuggle sack and we loaded him into it and then into a yellow stroller and headed out. We have the stroller at our house because it pushes easily on the smooth streets and trails of our subdivision, while it isn’t the best unit for the soft ground and rough areas of the farm. They have acquired a used stroller with bigger wheels for that task and the extra stroller now lives in our garage.

We walked a block or so to the entrance of a forest trail that runs alongside a county park next to our subdivision and headed up the trail. As we walked along the trail, I let my mind wander to other walks we have taken behind that stroller. The stroller is 12 years old. When we had children, we purchased the least expensive folding strollers that were on the market. We would walk the wheels off of them in a few months. We walk a lot and we tend to walk on surfaces for which the inexpensive strollers were not designed. We did have two baby-moving devices that outlasted our children: an old-fashioned baby buggy that was durable, easy to push and way too big to take in the car with us and a red wagon that was similarly easy to use and difficult to transport in a vehicle. When our first grandson was born 12 years ago, our son and daughter-in-law, with the support of our daughter, who was working as a childcare professional at the time, purchased one of the more expansive and convertible strollers on the market. It can be used with the child sitting upright, reclining, or laid flat. The safety seat can be mounted facing the rear or facing the front. And the entire unit folds flat to sit in the back of a small car.

At the time of the purchase, I thought, “Wow! that is a lot of money for a baby stroller.” I’m pretty sure I used to get strollers at discount stores for less than 10% of the cost of that unit. Now, 12 years later, I realize that sometimes it is worth the initial expense to purchase a quality item. This stroller functions exactly as it did when it was brand new. The cover is removable and washable, so it is clean. The wheels swivel and roll like brand new. The safety straps are all strong and secure and untwisted, and the unit changes and folds as easily as it did when brand new. As far as I can tell, it is good for another 12 or even 25 years of service.

Walking down the trail my mind wandered from the stroller itself to the memories it invoked. Our oldest grandson was born just after my mother died. Not long after his birth, Susan’s father died. It was less than a year since one of my brothers died. Our congregation had just taken on the financial responsibility of adding a part-time minister to our staff and as is often the case, the addition of staff wasn’t reducing my work load. We had joy that year. A grandson was born. Our daughter was married. But it was a year of high stress. In the midst of that stress, we took a strange sabbatical. We had planned to take the sabbatical a year later. However, it was taken that year in order to free up a set-aside fund that was providing the money for the new staff person. In addition, we took three different months off, dividing our break time in order to decrease the cost of sabbatical coverage. Finally, the annual stewardship drive was the most stressful of my career, with a committee that was unwilling to take on some of the hard work of a successful drive and also extremely conservative when projecting income forcing large cuts to the budget, including another year without a pay raise for our family. It was a stressful time for us.

With all of that stress, we received a lot of healing and restoration from taking walks with our grandson while away from the church. We had a slide-in pickup camper and we made several trips to Olympia, where they lived at the time. We’d stay in our camper and during the day we’d walk on the trail near their home pushing the stroller with the baby and walking their well-trained dog. Those walks were healing times for me. I could release the stress, admire the beauty of the tall trees and lush undergrowth, and relax my body with light exercise. Sometimes we would talk about our grief, or the stress of the year, or make plans for upcoming events. Sometimes we simply walked quietly with our thoughts. Usually the baby would fall asleep and we would walk for a few miles. As we walked we healed. As we healed we discovered strength to face the stresses of our job.

Pushing that yellow stroller down the path in our neighborhood yesterday brought back a flood of memories. And, as often is the case, I realized how much my brain has sifted and sorted the memories so that the good ones come to the top. Despite what was probably the most stressful year of my career, with times of feeling real betrayal from people I had worked hard to serve faithfully, what I now remember is the joy of a new grandson, the delight of a daughter who found love and a life partner, and the healing power of walking in the woods. Despite what I sometimes call “the crazy sabbatical,” it indeed was filled with enough sabbath that I can still recognize the benefits of that time.

Life is a bit like that stroller. The strength to endure comes in part from the willingness to invest wisely. Spending a bit more upfront can yield a lower total cost. A sabbatical can restore the call of a pastor for years of additional service. A walk in the woods can restore the spirit.

I know that when this grandson outgrows the stroller, there will be no more for us. It will be time for the stroller to find its way to a new family. Fortunately, our family will have received more than its value in service for it and we will be able to pass on a high quality and very serviceable piece of baby equipment without needing compensation. I think, however, that there will be many more good memories left for that stroller to make.