Every evening my “other spiritual adviser” and I go for a walk around the neighborhood. You can count on it. I know he does. He has become quite accustomed to having me pay attention to him for about half the time, and having me pray, sometimes aloud, sometimes silently, the other half. Sometimes, when prayer is illusive, I talk to him about it. He’s a good listener.

 

Last night Bailey stepped out, as usual, at about 9:00. The stars were out and there was no moon. It was pretty. I guess he found his own inspiration at ground level because he was busier sniffing than usual. I watched him for a moment, enjoying his hunting behavior, and thought about how I’ve come to enjoy these walks in the evening.

 

It struck me, then and there, how “we” (America, western society in general, if not most of the so-called “developed” or “emerging” world) have it all backwards! And to make it worse, our true priority has been right in front of our face all along.

 

Open your bible to Genesis – the creation account. The translation doesn’t really matter, as long as it isn’t paraphrased. I don’t care if you think of the story as a myth or as history; look at the words. “…evening and morning, the first day…. evening and morning, the second day…” and so on. You might have a footnote that informs you that in the ancient Middle East they considered that the day began in the evening.

 

If you have a bit more familiarity with the bible and with Jewish customs you also know that the Sabbath begins at sundown – more precisely, when a certain number of stars become visible, on Friday evening.

 

Okay, what’s so special about an old custom? Why should we really care today?

 

Go back to Genesis, a little further, in Chapter 3, to just after Adam and Eve disobey God. Notice that God comes and walks in the garden in the cool of the evening (or the evening breeze), and He calls, looking for His humans. I always had the impression that this was His customary time to come and initiate a conversation with them. This suggests to me that evening is an especially holy time.

 

What else happened in the evening? The Passover supper was celebrated in the evening so that in the night the Angel of Death would pass over the houses of the children of Israel. Joseph of Aramathia visited with Jesus at night (read, evening). The Last Supper and the initiation of the Eucharist were in the evening. As you leaf through the stories, it seems that evening is the time when God reaches out to us. And evening is the BEGINNING of the day.

 

Now, let’s look at the “normal” way we behave in the evening. The work of the day is done and it is time to rest, to relax, to re-create. Ideally, though this practice is presently in decline, evening is when families gather for a meal and for conversation about the day. Perhaps we put our feet up for a while. Maybe we indulge in a little light entertainment, or quiet reading or study. Sometimes we play together. Sometimes we just go outside, if we can, and watch the sunset, or wish upon the first star, or watch the fireflies…. Bailey and I go for walks.

 

When we talk around the table isn’t it usually about the day that just ended? And when I pray, it almost invariably includes things that happened, or didn’t happen, during the day. This is a time for examination of conscience: when I admit to God that I didn’t live up to my present calling as a healer. Maybe I exhibited other faults. This is also a time when I offer thanks and praise for the things that went well. Then I might talk about the issues that are touching the lives of my family and friends that I learned about that day, or that I learned about this evening. You probably know how it goes.

 

But psychologically, I’ve always thought of the evening as the END of the day. How might it be different if I changed my perception and thought of it as the BEGINNING?

 

Perhaps the general topics would remain the same, but I would be contemplating YESTERDAY’s faults and failings. Would that not tend to draw me to think and pray more about my intentions for the future – for TODAY? And what about the sense of guilt or shame or sorrow for my sins of the day? While repentance is absolutely good and necessary, am I not going to be thinking more of amending my life? There is little to be gained by being reluctant to face God over anything – they are yesterday’s faults. “Today” began with a fresh promise to try to do better and a fresh request for His help.

 

Now look at “normal” evening behavior. We do not end the work day by resting – we begin the new day by resting, and conversing, and re-creating! When we are stuck in the western “get-up-get-showered-grab-coffee-eat-maybe-and-rush-to-work” way of starting the day, no wonder we feel so empty or unfulfilled so very often! We regard “yesterday evening’s” rest and recreation as yesterday’s! We have it backwards!

 

Begin the day in the “cool of the evening,” that holy time that God sometimes chooses to walk with you. Begin the day with the family gathering together instead of going off in all directions to work and school. Begin the day with conversation, sharing, entertainment and play. And cap the beginning of the day with sleep – that wonderful time when we can surrender consciousness and be open to dreams. If we can make that transition to thinking of evening as the beginning, then it won’t be the sleep of the exhausted and drained, but the sleep of the re-created and refreshed.

 

Think about it. God’s natural created order has been right in front of us, in the first pages of the scripture, all along.

 

No wonder Bailey is so happy to go for a walk with me – it is the start of another wonderful day for him.