Small Steps in the Right Direction
I’ve said this before, I know, but the simplest things are the easiest to forget when life becomes chaotic. So I’ll say it again to remind us all.
The number one rule in hiking is this:
Small steps…in the right direction…will get you home…every time.
It truly is simple and so foundational that it easily applies to every aspect of our lives.
Small steps in the right direction will get you home every time.
The struggle with this (in hiking and the rest of life) is twofold: 1)Knowing what is the right direction and 2)Wanting to get there.
In hiking, it is helpful to have a reliable map and compass to keep you navigating in the right direction. Our guide in life can include a multitude of influences such as friends, family, life groups, but the essentials for each of us should also include our Bible and taking time to listen to the Holy Spirit’s nudges. Learning to rely on these is a journey of its own, to be sure, but without them…well that’s like hiking blindfolded.
In week four of our study on Jesus’ Beatitudes we come to the phrase “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” (Matthew 5:6) There is a wonderful, humanizing moment in the Gospel of John where Jesus learns of a man who had been lame for 38 years. Close by was a pool that would cure any illness if you climbed in when the “water is stirred.” (John 5:7) Jesus, learning this man’s story from others, comes up to the man and asks, “Do you want to get well?” The man says he does, but he has no one to help him get into the pool in time to be healed. It quickly sounds like an excuse, but don’t forget this man has set himself near this pool for three decades so I don’t think we can say he had given up hope. Regardless, Jesus offers him an out: “‘Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.’ At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked.” (John 5:8-9)
The wonderful, powerful thing about Jesus is he doesn’t leave us to wander alone. He sought out the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek and he comforted, empowered and blessed them. And he does the same for us today by the Holy Spirit. When we call, He is faithful to answer. He already told us he would years before through the prophet Jeremiah, “You will seek me and find me when you search for me with all your heart.” (Jer 29:13) Paul would further encourage those in the faith after Jesus’ resurrection that “he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus…And this is my prayer: that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and depth of insight, so that you may be able to discern what is best and may be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ–to the glory and praise of God .” (Phil 1:6-11)
Small steps…in the right direction…will get you home…every time.
Thanks be to God.