First Steps Pt. 2

During yesterday’s blog I spent a great deal of time talking about my experiences as an infant in preparation for walking, from: raising my head to learning to balance on all fours as I advanced to crawling.   Thankfully I wasn’t one of the babies that crawled backwards first which would have hindered my abilities.  I wasn’t sharp enough then to use a rearview mirror (didn’t know what one was) or look behind me as I crawled so that could have been disastrous.  Sliding v. crawling wouldn’t have yielded me the results I was looking for either. 

Crawling gave me a new found freedom because it allowed me to get from one side of the play pin to the other or to one of my favorite hangouts, the coffee table.  When I cried my “Daddy, pick me up and place me in front of the coffee table” cry he ignored me.  Not because he was negligent, but because he knew it wasn’t a cry for distress and it was time to allow me to learn some things on my own, like pull myself up and stand on my own.  And that’s exactly what I did. 

I had grown fond of my new hangout and I spent quite a bit of time there because it was my training

ground where my self-confidence grew.  I learned how to maneuver my body and pull myself up (strengthening my core muscles); improved my side step; correcting a fall; holding on with one hand while I held a toy or my bottle in the other.  I was improving my skill at lightening speed and then one day without even realizing it I was standing by myself without my hands on the table as the music and bright colors from the television and grabbed and held my attention, until my sister scared the reality in me when she screamed in excitement that I was standing on my own.  All of that hard work paid off because I finally had enough confidence to take my First Step. 

First steps are very often taken lightly or blown off, but they are huge, no pun intended.  The first step and the last step as far as I am concerned are the most important.  Don’t get me wrong the steps in between are important too, but if you never take a first step there will be no steps in between and if you take the first step followed by the in between but never finish, you will never complete anything.  To ensure balance we need a first step (start); in between (all the things that happen from the time you start until the end) and then you need an end for closure.  Doesn’t that sound pretty simple:  beginning, middle, end?    C’mon, you have to admit that’s a fairly simple concept.  Why is it then that so many people miss it altogether; get stuck somewhere along the way or have no clue at all of the process?  No, that’s not why.  Nope, that’s not it either.  No ma’am, no sir that certainly isn’t it.  The answer my friend is within each of us.  I can’t tell you with certainty: why you’re stuck at the beginning; he’s stuck in the middle; she got to the end and quit and they won’t even try.  I can surmise that it probably has a lot to do with fear. 

Understand that fear is a necessary emotion which is designed to alert us of danger seen and unseen.  When we are afraid and the adrenaline kicks in we can be strengthened to do things we normally wouldn’t: e.g. run faster, yell louder, move weight we normally couldn’t, talk our way out of situations, etc.  It can save our lives and/or the lives of others that may be dependent on us.  But negative unchecked FEAR can be a beast Hon’Tee.  Used in a destructive way it can literally immobilize you; make you want to bury your head in the sand; eat your voice up and make you have several seats,  yes it can.  Have you ever heard the term: … scared him/her to death?  That’s not just a phrase it is a reality.  Some people can become so fearful that their heart stops.

Do you know anyone that allowed a friend or relative talk them out of their dream(s) because they (the friend/relative) didn’t have the vision?

            Guess what, the friend/relative wasn't supposed to have the vision

Do you know anyone who never really addresses the greatness within them, it’s there but they constantly avoid it?

            That’s an example of someone who side crawls standing up like I did at the coffee table

Do you know anyone that had the idea, created a plan, started the process but quit?

            That’s an example of someone who crawls backwards

What about the person who had a great idea(s), they talked about it all the time and it sounded doable but twenty years went by and they are still talking about it?

            That’s an example of someone who is still crawling

So what are you made of?  Are you as big and bad as you try to make people think you are?  Do you have what it takes to command your emotions, feelings or thoughts?  Do you know what it takes to keep yourself in check?

·       It takes courage to take the First Step to break the cycle of addiction? 

·       It takes extreme self-control to take the First Step of denying yourself “pleasures” that give you temporary satisfaction when you’re having one of your moments and you want to: overeat, shop, gamble, have unjustified, illegal sexual activity, etc.. 

·       It takes “hutzpah” to pick yourself up, dust yourself off and take the First Step of overcoming embarrassment, humiliation, after being talked about and lied on in your church, your job or neighborhood after someone tried to make you out to be something that you are not. 

·       It takes humility to forgive your enemy and take the First Step towards reconciliation by asking your offender to forgive you.  I’m talking about the kind of humility that long before or regardless of whether or not they have asked you to forgive them and you make intentional steps to move forward.  

  

What First Step(s) are you denying yourself of?

I’m out of time for now …

Because of His Favor

Tania Not Tanya