Stepping Stones

Personal Photo: My brother took this photo on his honeymoon in Kentucky. I found it was perfect for the visual representation of one step at a time. Each step provides a new perspective, taking us higher, helping us grow a little closer to God. We have the chance to appreciate each small step, and what it took for us to get to where we are now!

I threw the covers off my legs and felt the heat of the room swell around me. I had thought that the cooler night air would be pulled through the window by our fans and keep us comfortable on one of the first warmer series of days yet this year. However, I was shocked to find that the nighttime did little to cool the temperature of the air outside, let alone inside. I sat up in bed, found a scrunchie and pulled my hair off my neck into a bun, and waited there for a moment in our bedroom, just listening to the whirring sounds of the fans in our room.

Clay and I live in an 1800s Victorian Farmhouse, with our bedroom on the top floor. While the house has much more modern luxuries than what it started with, including garages and running water, it has yet to add air conditioning to its list of amenities. Usually this bothers me very little, as the house is insulated well, keeping cool air in and warm air out, but every Spring, there seems to be an especially warm weekend that reminds me how uncomfortable it can be to be hot. In the darkness, I had time to think about our house, to consider how many things we have done to make it exactly what we want, and how far we have yet to go. Everything in today's economy is an overwhelming amount of money, and sticking to the budget for most normal, day-to-day shopping trips can be a challenge sometimes. It is frustrating to think of money as a limitation for us, and how much easier it would be to accomplish our goals if our bank accounts were just a little heftier. With both of us working full-time jobs, and neither of us extreme spenders, I am often shocked to see how hard it can still be to save money.

Money is one limitation I think we have all felt at one point or another, and as I waited to cool down so I could fall back asleep, I was reminded that I am doing just fine, that the important things in my life are in alignment, and that there is something special about celebrating the small steps we take in our journey of growth. There is something beautiful about the stepping stones we all have in our lives, the little things that we can often overlook when we are so focused on the grandiose dream we have built over the next hill, or around the next curve. If we just skipped all the steps in between, we lose what makes our story inherently ours. These stepping stones are the building blocks of our character, the memories we cherish the most when we look back through the years. In a world that emphasizes glamour and wealth, I think we can all use the reminder that our richness comes from being heirs to heaven, and that the stepping stones we use to stable ourselves in turbulent waters are where God does some of His best work in us.

In every moment of life, little things add up to quickly make a big difference. When we focus on those little things, we are able to appreciate how they are leading us, building us, and strengthening us as a whole. Luke 16:10 reminds us that “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much." In this way, we can see that smallness has little to do with size, and a lot to do with impact. If we focus on what faith we have, rather than compare ourselves to the image we have created of others, we quickly realize that our small amount of faith has trickled into every area of our lives, and therefore made a large impact on us and who we are. Our faith may begin small, but can grow into something much larger than we thought possible. Every small moment of growth adds up over time, and allows us to lean on a foundation of faith that spans the width of our entire life.

Our timing for our lives looks very different than God's viewpoint. We are like bystanders in a parade, watching each float as it comes by us, but God gets to see the whole parade, and He knows what comes before, what comes after, where it is all going, and coming from. It makes a big difference for us, and serves as a reminder that God's timing is perfect, and is much greater than our own. We might find ourselves impatient to see the fruits of our labor, eager to get to the end and skip the middle chapters, but when we slow down to appreciate the blessings God puts in our every day, we realize how critical it is for us to trust in His timing. Proverbs 3:5-6 tells us "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths." God knows where He is taking us, and when He is going to take us there. We might have created a vision for where we think we ought to be, but the truth is that we are exactly where we need to be today, and going exactly where we need to be for tomorrow. Therefore, we can remember to "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice" (Philippians 4:4). A little patience, a little trust, they can lead to a lot of faith, and a lot of joy in the season of life we are in currently.

God's gifts are not coincidences, but rather they are opportunities to appreciate the journey we are on, one step at a time. We might find ourselves with restrictions like money and time, but when we take small steps each day, we find our progress is much greater than we thought possible. We can navigate our day to day knowing and trusting in the timing of the Lord and that He is building a future for us that begins with where we are right now. Jeremiah 29:11 tells us "For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope." Our hopes are dreams are not designed to rush us through life, but rather to keep us focusing on what God can do when we listen to Him, when we live our lives for Him, and when we focus on Him first, before worldly things. God does not waste our time, does not burn days without purpose, but instead, we are part of an Almighty plan that is beyond our understanding. In this way, we can recognize that we may be impatient, but God is creating a future that we could never even imagine on our own.

When we feel frustrated or impatient with our goals and our situation, we can take the chance to remember that we are exactly where we need to be, and that God has blessed us richly. When we begin to rush to the end, we fail to recognize those blessings, and can miss some of the loveliest things that the Lord puts into our lives. God's timing is much more perfect than ours, and even though it is challenging to be patient, we can remember there is something beautiful in the stepping stones, the challenges we overcome, the time it takes for us to build the life we want around us. He is working on us and in us daily, and we can trust in the promise that He is going to take us exactly where we need to be, when we need to be there.