BABY STEPS

                I can be impatient at times. I don’t like to wait for things to develop. Instead, I want them to come together quickly, seamlessly and effortlessly. My desire is far from reality. All of life is a process, which we cannot rush or sidestep. Often the process is slow, even though certain aspects of the process happen rapidly. A strategic decision is made, then the process of implementation takes over. We can see where we want to be, but it is often much farther away than we realize.

                Back in 1991 a movie was released titled “What About Bob?” starring Bill Murray and Richard Dreyfuss. Bob (Bill Murray) is an overly dependent, manipulative, obsessive/compulsive who comes to a well-known psychotherapist (Dreyfuss). In an attempt to help Bob make significant progress, Dr. Marvin tells Bob that he needs to take baby steps. This becomes a recurring theme throughout the rest of the movie.

                As I was running the other day, I thought about that idea of baby steps. As I passed each ½ mile mark on my run, I checked my time. It gave me a sense of how I was doing. I also reminded me that, in order to reach my goal, I had to cover every inch of the distance. It is impossible to leap from mile 0 to mile 6 in one fell swoop.

                We are moving through some significant changes at our church. I know where we are and I can see where we want to be. The problem is that there is a massive gulf between the two. I want to quickly make the leap, but that is not going to happen. Instead, we need to take many baby steps that will move us incrementally toward our goal.

                On our recent family vacation, we visited the H.H. Bennett museum in Wisconsin Dells. Bennett is reputed to be the first, true photojournalist. He chronicled the life of the Ho Chunk Indians. He is also credited with turning the Dells into a popular vacation place through his amazing photos. One of his most famous photos is a picture of his son leaping from one rock to another over a wide gap. It is called Leaping the Chasm at Stand Rock. In the museum, there is a place where the gap at Stand Rock is depicted on the floor. Visitors are encouraged to take the leap. I leapt, and I perished.

                Often, that is the way it is in real life. When we try to rush forward and make things happen quickly, we crash. Instead, we need to learn to take baby steps toward the goal.

                God has His timing, and His timing is perfect. We cannot rush what God is doing, yet we need to be ready to move when the time is right. One of the hardest lessons to learn is waiting on the Lord’s timing. The Psalmist David expressed our need to demonstrate our trust on God by waiting in Psalm 27.    Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. (Psalm 27:14)

                As we wait for the Lord, we also must be faithful to do what He has already called us to do. Waiting on the Lord is never passive. It is actively positioning ourselves to be used by God. Jesus talked about this in Matthew 24. Jesus made it clear that we cannot figure out God’s timing. The Day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night. Therefore, we need to be ready when that day arrives. So Jesus commands us to be busy doing what we know we should do.

                "Who then is the faithful and wise servant, whom the master has put in charge of the servants in his household to give them their food at the proper time? It will be good for that servant whose master finds him doing so when he returns. I tell you the truth, he will put him in charge of all his possessions.” Matthew 24:45-47

                This brings me back to baby steps. I can get weary doing the routine things that I know God wants me to do. I would rather have exciting, wow experiences. I would rather run ahead to the end goal. But I will never reach my God given destination by running ahead. Instead I have to be faithful to do what the Master has charged me with doing, even though it seems at time to be cruelly slow progress.

                Our world is all about speed, but our God is not. Our world is all about flashy excitement, but our God is about faithful service. Our world is in a hurry to get to the future even though it does not understand where that path is leading. God takes His time to lead us in the way we should go.

                Right now I want to take a huge leap forward, but I know, in my heart, that I need to keep taking baby steps in the right direction. The huge leap can be exciting at the moment, but it can have less than desirable consequences. Baby steps will get me to the goal, in God’s time.

Let us not become weary in doing good,

for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.

Galatians 6:9