Baby Steps Are Just The Beginning

I couldn’t have imagined her baby steps almost fifty years ago when I held my newborn baby girl. At less than five pounds, she was unique in every way, right down to her transparent little fingernails. Each tiny, delicate, perfectly formed intricacy fascinated me.

Her pursuits were purely survival then, but over time, obviously, those baby feet grew into youthful ones, then adult ones. They took her across her chosen paths. I don’t believe there was a step she took—baby steps or otherwise—that missed God’s providential hand, and not one that baffled his wisdom when neither she nor I knew which way to turn.

Clear Paths

Crossroads, byways, highways, low ways. Tunnels and bridges. Choices have a way of cropping up. So many times they’re unexpected and catch us off guard. It’s not always easy to recognize lies that lead to a wrong path when truth leading to the right path is often obscure.

Biblical truth lays out clear paths. Based on God’s faithfulness to me, I can say with confidence that his words are totally true: “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” Jeremiah 29:11

Missteps, Baby Steps, Grown-up Steps

Given the steps that compose the millions I’ve taken, I can’t help but know that once I stood on very tiny feet taking baby steps (probably holding to a chair leg when necessary!). I’ve learned to trust, even with baby steps, that faith in Jesus Christ lays a firm foundation, and his divine promise positions his followers for life’s journey.

Strength for living seems to pass from one generation to the next. My baby daughter has grown into a beautiful woman who walks in truth. And my own mother’s life, too, was lived by faith in Jesus Christ. Because of her example I’ve walked similar paths to wholeness—ones she walked—through the tunnels and over the bridges.

For sure, I’ve had to retrace a multitude of steps that took me to dead ends, but there were many more that took me to higher ground.

I’ve marveled at the paths my daughter has taken, fulfilling the pursuits that have made me say as my mother did,  “I have no greater joy than to hear that my child is walking in the truth.”  3John 1:4