Simply Stepping Stones

Sometimes something so simple can get really complicated.

I have a tendency to skip steps. I don't like to read directions and don't see why I have to follow them half of the time. Why? Probably because I am inherently lazy. That's right. Lazy. At least I'm not floating down the River de-Nile about it. I'm lazy, and I know it.

But, sometimes these steps are necessary. And, God throws them in there to let us grow. They aren't to hinder us, or to stop us, they are to open the doors and shine the light on what God is doing.

Take for instance writing. Everyone can write, and a popular saying is "everyone has a story to tell." But that doesn't mean it's a good story or that people will pay to read it. Or sadly, what if they don't even want to read it even if it's free?

There is a craft to writing. A step-by-step growth process that God developed when He breathed life into these dry bones. And as much as I try to skip over the steps, God reels me back in and sets me perfectly where I need to be - Learning. And I plan to learn everything the Father has to teach me.

In my quest for the simple life, I discovered Sue Bender's book Plain and Simple: A Woman's Journey to the Amish. In it, Mrs. Bender describes her time living with several different Amish families. I love this book and found simplicity and hope in it.

From page 85...

"It is the enjoyment of every step in the process of doing; everything not only the isolated piece we label art. If accomplishing is the only goal, all that it takes to reach that goal is too slow, too fatiguing -- an obstacle to what you want to achieve. If you want to rush to the accomplishment, it is an inevitable disappointment. Then you rush to something else. The disappointment is reaped over and over again. But if every step is pleasant, then the accomplishment becomes even more, because it is nourished by what is going on."

Value those steps - every one that you may be on, because there is a reason and a purpose for each one. I promise. :o)

May God bless you richly and abundantly this week.

DMM