Our steps are made firm by the Lord,
when he delights in our way;
~Psalm 37:23
On my daughters first birthday, just a few weeks ago, she took her first teeny tiny steps, and what a joy it has been. These steps start so small, so uncertain. She would shuffle one foot forward, and then watch her other foot follow. Hadley looked up at us with this surprised joy as she toppled to the floor with a smile.
She reminds me that it all starts with tiny steps.
Inspiration and Direction
Now, for my daughter Hadley as she took those first steps, she needed something. And what she needed was inspiration and direction. And those things tend to come together. For Hadley, her inspiration and her direction were one and the same – her dad sitting across the room, arms open wide, calling her name. So her direction was towards her dad, and her inspiration was his open arms.
Then a few tiny steps, and there she was giggling with hugs and kisses as we celebrated her milestone.
We can achieve big things with just tiny steps. For Hadley, those four steps across the room were huge! But with direction and inspiration, she found her way.
For us, as we think about the big dreams we might want to achieve. What inspires us? We might begin with asking what direction we need to point ourselves in? When I think ahead to upcoming service opportunities and fellowship events at our church, sometimes it all seems like too much.
There’s so much going on and so much to do! Where can I even begin? But instead of getting caught up in that big feeling, I ask “What direction might I start in?” “What inspires me about this project?” And for most things, but especially for ministry, “Why and where is God calling us here?”
Why and Where?
The why and the where might be language we would use to describe this direction and inspiration in our own lives. As we search for our next steps in whatever we do. We my ask ourselves, or each other, why is God calling us here? Why is God calling us to the community we live in? To this neighborhood? To this church? Why is God calling us to our friendships and relationships? Simply put – why are you here? And that might be an answer that is too big or too unknown to even begin thinking about.
But with tiny steps, we might be able to hear God’s answers for us. With tiny steps and lots of prayer, we might find ourselves getting closer to what inspires us.
We might find ourselves getting closer to the direction we are being called to. With tiny steps we might be able to ask ourselves the question – “Where is God calling us?” Where in our community? Where in our neighborhood? As we lean towards that inspiration, to that “why”, we might begin to turn towards the right direction.
Tiny Steps Getting Bigger
As I write this, it has been almost a month since those first tiny steps in our living room. And our daughter is still shaky in her steps. She still doesn’t have total confidence that her direction is correct or that her feet will hold her. She’ll still go back to crawling when she’s in a hurry and just can’t wait.
But she’s moving a lot faster now. Already. She’s taking more and more steps before falling down. She’s figuring it out.
And just as Hadley figures out her steps, as her tiny steps begin growing, as we search for our calling, for our, our steps grow too. As we look for inspiration in our lives, starting with tiny steps we can get swept up in our momentum. And beginning with questions like God’s calling for us, I hope that God points us in directions where our teeny tiny steps lead us to our big dreams.
What are tiny steps you might take in your life today? Are you feeling a bit wobbly like a toddler on her feet? What direction might you be pointed in already? Why and where might you feel God calling you?
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