Baby Steps

When we think of growth, it is easy to think of it in the physical sense. I think of my little brother when he started to get his first set of teeth (or chiclets as we used to call them). I think of the moment I realized he was no longer my little brother because I now have to look up at him when I speak. Physical growth can be seen all around us in the people we know, the plants that are in our front yard, or even the buildings that continue to pop up around town. The thing is, growth is not just physical, it can be internal too!

Think of a time in your life when you internally grew - what did that look like? How did it happen? Who may have influenced that growth? Maybe for you it was learning to love yourself just as you are or finally being able to forgive someone in your life. The reality is that internal growth is hard. It does not just happen naturally over time. It is a continuous process that involves investment in yourself and patience. A good way to look at it is to compare it to a baby’s first steps. Before that baby could walk, there is a process that takes place. First it’s usually the act of crawling, then comes the ability to stand up, and then all of a sudden you catch that baby maybe taking a step or two before finally falling over. Eventually, that baby can walk, but again, it’s a process.

Lord, today I ask that we all just take one baby step . That may look different for each one of us. Maybe we are still in the crawling phase, or maybe we finally took that first step but still find ourselves falling over. Lord, I just ask that you give us the patience and the grace we need in order to continue in this process - to not allow ourselves to give up simply because it’s hard or because it’s taking too long but to trust in You. To trust that that growth is happening in Your time not our own. Lord, I thank you for the ways we all have this ability to grow. I thank you for the beauty in seeing that internal growth happens not only in ourselves but in others too. I thank you for Hope Street and our staff as we have this unique ability to walk alongside people and experience this internal growth with one another! And thank you Lord for being present in this process every step of the way.

Amen,

Brooke