Baby Steps

There’s this little girl I’ve been spending lots of time with. When I met her she couldn’t walk. She barely crawled. But soon she was eagerly crawling all over the place. Just like any little child, we tried to help her learn to walk. First we would have her walk while holding our fingers. It was slow at first; she was nervous and would only do a little at a time. One day after church we were trying to get her to walk between two of us. She would start, but still hold onto a finger if she could. Then she would reach as far as she could to grab onto the next person. She’d take a couple wobbly steps on her own and fall into the next person’s waiting hands. Sometimes she would be too smart for us and manage to grab a chair in between. Or she’d just give up and sit right down on the floor or start crawling instead.

You know, we don’t just learn how to walk as babies. The learning to walk extends far into our adulthood. If you think about it, we're always learning new things and, more often than not, falling while doing so. But there will always be another goal to try to walk to, another reason to get up and try again. And there will always be someone there to pick us up when we fall. If not our parents, our friends, our family, then God will. And as I watched that adorable little girl fall on the floor again, and this time decided I would just stand by and wait to see what she did, I realized sometimes the ones we love do the same. They don’t always pick us right up off the floor before we even realize we had fallen. If they did, then how could we ever learn how to get back up again? And before I knew it she found a chair within her grasp and pulled herself back up, not needing my assistance but knowing I was standing right there if she did. It made her stronger, just as getting back up on our own when we fall makes us stronger.

She was here a while ago and she not only can walk all on her own now, she picks herself up when she falls and keeps going. But sometimes she’ll still grab for a finger or a pant leg even though she really doesn’t need it.  And that’s ok. We all need a little confidence boost every once in a while. A little support, even if it’s just for doing something we always do.

I'm still learning to walk. Everyday there's something else I'm learning to do or trying to get better at. I find strength in knowing God is there watching me and making me stronger. I know my friends and family will pick me up when I fall. And trust me, I fall more often than not. But I'm getting stronger. And before I know it, I'll be walking. And before you know it you'll be walking too.

Photo by Chloe 2014