Rocky or Smooth...

...Step by Step is the Way

Since I am in transition, I have a lot of time on my hands. With time on my hands, there is much opportunity, sometimes too much, to think and wonder. And with these thoughts and wonderings often comes frustration because I don’t have a lot of answers right now. And I am the type who likes to have answers and likes to have a plan. So periods of uncertainty aren’t all that fun for me. If you are my facebook friend, you know I have been sharing thankful thoughts everyday...being intentional about finding things to be thankful for no matter how frustrated or disgusted I feel is how I am keeping sane lol. It gives me a sense of purpose and encourages me, and others too (I think).

Today was another thoughtful time of assessing and re-assessing, contemplating and bargaining (with God lol). As I was sharing my angst with a friend, God’s loving care shined through that moment to give me the boost I needed to take another step. Or rather, to decide to take another step. Any movement in any direction begins with a decision...all things, good and bad, begin in our heads...nothing just happens (sorry peeps, it doesn’t).  And as I leaned into His open arms, extended in love to once again comfort me in yet another moment of crisis, an image came to mind.

The image was of a scene that occurred a couple weeks ago. I was walking along the beach on the north side of the island I live on and came across a rocky area. Although I was barefoot, I continued along because climbing the rocks would give me a better view of the ocean. Then I realized the rocks did not have smooth surfaces but jagged edges that hurt my feet. I looked back from where I had come and realized my shoes were too far away. I looked ahead at the ocean that I wanted a better view of and decided to forge on ahead, over the rocks.

I had to navigate my way over the rocks, looking for smoother parts to step on. I would take a couple steps then get to a particularly rough section and have to stop and look around to figure out where to step next. Sometimes, I could only take one step at a time. Sometimes, I had to suck it up and just step in rough places because there was no smooth area nearby. That is how the Christian walk is. It is stop and go, smooth and rough...

When we hit a rough patch, we tend to look back to the world and wish for the so-called comforts we experienced before we decided to follow Jesus. It looks easier and better but if we are honest, we have to admit that it wasn’t so great in the world and we recognize that we have come too far to go back to the old ways. So we continue on to the prize...like Paul we “press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Phil 3:14).

As we press on, we have to stop at times and hear God’s voice of guidance. And then we have to step, forward, sideways, one step at a time, sometimes we move quickly, sometimes slowly, sometimes we seem to take a couple steps backwards in order to move ahead. Pause if you must, take a break, check your surroundings, re-adjust if you need to, but by all means, keep on steppin’.