August 11th, 2008
One Step Done And Another Begun In I Wonder How Many Miles…
Tomorrow I head out with our church Chi Rho group (6-8 graders) on their summer mission trip. We are heading out to San Antonio to help out at a food bank for a few days. The form that our Youth Minister handed out to everyone opened with a reference to Job 8:7, “And though thy beginning was small, yet thy latter end should greatly increase.” It reminds me that a journey begins with a single step and I find myself thinking, as I prepare for this little journey, that I spend rather too much energy focused on the steps to come and not enough time on the step I am taking right now. Before I know it one step is done and I’ve begun another. How much of my life has gone by with me just plodding through trying to get to something down the road?
…if the horse don’t pull you got to carry the load…
I have certainly been guilty on more occasions than I care to count of not making any progress because of some real or imagined obstacle. I don’t tend to let obstacles get in my way when I am solving a programming problem. I methodically and deliberately work through or around them. Sometimes a situation is too weighty and I don’t think I can carry it. What have I given up on lately?
…spent a little time on the mountain…
As I take a moment to look over where I’ve been and where I am headed, I wonder what I have missed by not focusing on the here and now. I suppose I am feeling a little gloomy for some reason. Maybe I am just in a bit of a funk. I don’t feel as though I have accomplished much these last few months and I think that this is contributing to the overall tone of this post. I know that I have gotten things done, but much of it has been on autopilot. It’s time to pull myself out of this rut starting with this trip. My prayer for myself, the other leaders and our youth on this trip is to be present in every moment of it, to concentrate on each step of the way.
One way or another this darkness got to give.