Take the Next Step
It seemed like just yesterday that our little corner of the world was experiencing what felt like record low temperatures. Those single digit nights, down to a frigid 5°, and not much warmer into the daytime was a shock to our system here in the South. But thankfully, the thermometer began reporting better news for my taste, especially yesterday. Thirty degrees above freezing instead of almost thirty below makes my heart sing for joy.
And what do we love to do when the last days of January become warm and sunny? Well, walk to the creek of course! So, on the last Monday afternoon of January me and my lovely wife headed to our favorite destination. But we didn’t go alone.
One of the newest members of the family, our daughter Olivia’s dog, Conner, was thrilled to join us. Conner, a mini-schnauzer, spends most of her existence in the house. So, given the chance to roam was a treat for her. Off we went, down the road, me and my adventurous wife, enjoying our happy life along with Conner the explorer.
The skies were bright blue as we walked along the seldom-ever-a-car country road. With the temperature in the mid-sixties, we set out with light jackets but soon tied those around our waste as the sun and our blood flow warmed us up. We prayed prayers for all our children one by one as we walked along, lifting them up to God in thankfulness and asking for His blessings over them in all of life’s challenges.
With Conner in tow, we arrived at the creek and made our way down the steep hill to the water’s edge. The recent snow and rains over the last several weeks had the creek levels running higher than normal, which created a challenge getting down to our usual destination. We leaped across the wider-than-normal water channel to get to the middle dry area of the creek, feet barely making it without splashing a bit. Once in the middle, the bridge of large rocks I’d created last spring was still intact, though the heavy flow of water was licking the top edges of the rocks.
As if there were a sign at the entrance of the bridge that said, “Cross here,” I couldn’t resist, so across the bridge I carefully went, happily stepping to the other side. Then, right behind me, Katrina picked up Conner, tucked her under her arm and here came the girls. Hooray, we’d made it across to the other side, the place we hadn’t been in weeks due to the cold weather and excessive water.
On the other side we wandered around a bit and Conner was so funny, running around picking up sticks in her mouth, just happy to be exploring the other side of the creek along with us. But she got a little too adventurous in all of her abundant energy, and lo and behold, got a bit too close to the water’s edge getting a drink. Plop! Off she went, bobbing up and down into the water for a bit of a polar plunge. She quickly found her footing and came running over to us, happy to demonstrate her ability to sling generous amounts of creek water our way. Yikes!
We walked a little ways down the creek rocks, taking in the warm winter day experience as we walked among the trees. After we had enjoyed our time there for a little while we sensed it was time to head home, back to farm. So, we sauntered back to our crossing point at the bridge. I led the way as we did the first time, carefully stepping on each rock with precision. Then, Katrina came on across right after me, leaving Conner on the opposite shore to see if she would follow across on the stepping stones.
There we stood, on the other side as Conner paced back and forth, whimpering and whining, trying to decide her next move. Katrina and I stood there waiting for her to come, coaxing her to hop across to our side. She learned by watching that the rocks were the way across, and she cautiously started hopping onto them one rock at a time. She made it to the first rock, then the second, but she got too anxious to try another. So, instead of going back to get her, we decided to turn and walk toward the exit of the creek to see if that would motivate her to come across.
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Well, we hadn’t gotten more than a few steps away when Conner took a leap into the shallow water, bounding and splashing all the way across. She wasn’t willing to test her limited skills on the bridge any longer, but she decided that getting wet again was a small sacrifice to being left behind. There she was again, at our heels, ready to punish us with her God-given ability to share the water she’d collected in her creek crossing.
Reunited with Conner, Katrina reattached her leash and we headed back on our mile-long hike to the house.
As I look back on our adventure with Conner, it reminds me of so many times as a parent when we want our children to succeed, to take a leap, to do more than they think they can. Sometimes we do, in fact, need to go back and get them and carry them across. But there are times in their lives when we have to push them to try, to allow them to get wet.
Our walk with God is really no different. When we walk with the Lord, we need to stay close by His side, even allowing Him to carry us at times. But as we grow and mature, God is going to ask us to take a step, and another, and another, trusting Him along life’s way. Even as we are taking the steps, one at a time, we look across the shore and can see Him waiting for us to catch up to Him. Sometimes in our fear we get hasty, jumping in and flailing across the creek to catch up to Him. He never left us. He knew we could take each step and safely arrive, dry on the other side to the place He wanted us be. But we didn’t trust Him or in the abilities He gave us to make it.
So, what are we to do? Well, we should continue to walk with the Lord, trust in Him, and when He says come on over, take one step, then another, then another until we arrive dry-footed on the other side, walking alongside Him victoriously.
And then, as we happily walk along with Him, we say, “Okay, Father. I made it across, with Your help. What’s the next step?”