First Step is the Hardest

As a parent, one of the many fun memories is to have the chance to see your child take their first steps. These are not simply the steps the exact time when they start walking, but even over the following days, weeks, and months. If you've been a parent or guardian of a child you understand my point of view.

However, are these "steps" limited to the one-foot-in-front-of-another kind? I would say "no." There are all kinds of steps a child takes as they grow up. Steps are more than with feet. There are steps to completing a project. Similarly, there are steps a person takes to growing up. Some examples may be feeding oneself, talking, running, going to preschool, playing T-ball, dance recitals, 4H groups, learning the books of the Bible or memory verses, and the list could continue. All these can be exciting and challenging.

In almost all of these steps, the end was not able to be seen because one would not know the extent of the success that may come about in any particular situation when you are at the beginning. However, without taking the first step, the end would never be known. This brings us to this week's quote...

Take the first step in faith. You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step. ~ Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Dr. King had some good sayings for people to take to heart. Faith is essentially invisible. Whereas the demonstration of faith is tangible. Faith has power, like the wind, but cannot be seen without the effect.

I remember when I was a few months away from graduating from preaching school. I wondered how I was going to be able to do the job which I was being trained to do? As time grew closer, I became more nervous. When the time came for me to take my first job, my thoughts pretty much came true. I was so much more inadequate than I realized. I felt like I was taken out into the country and asked to find my way back.

Today, I am still inadequate, but I have a better grip on things. I rely more on God and less on me. Though I never know what is going to be around each corner, I do not make that a priority. My priority is taking the next step and looking forward to the surprise that God will bring about. (and boy, do I look forward to God's surprises!)

Now it's your turn...what, in your life, do you need to take the first step in faith without seeing the whole staircase?