“Take the first step in faith.
You don’t
have to see the whole staircase.
Just take the first step.”
- Martin Luther King Jr.
This is the quote that greeted me this morning when I logged on to my iGoogle home page. I’ve seen it many times before, and always find it inspirational and reassuring. Thought I’d share it with you today, as we celebrate the start of the Easter holiday weekend. It’s a time for renewal, new life Springing up all around us, and renewed faith.
It’s a lesson I keep learning over and over. I don’t have to have it all figured out. It’s silly, in fact, to even try. Instead, I can choose to believe that there is a higher purpose to my life, and that no doubt the Universe is unfolding as it should. I can, and do believe that we are all meant to keep stepping, one step at a time, in the direction of our true heart’s desire. Not some false desire, driven by ego or doubt or need. But stepping out, in faith, towards the truths that your highest self knows to be right.
For me, the steps I can see behind me and in front of me (from my view at mid-step), include these truths:
We are all children of God.
Every child has strengths to be celebrated, struggles to overcome, and positive potential to fulfill.
Every parent and teacher and counselor has valuable gifts to share and guidance to offer.
The first of these gifts is mindful awareness – being fully present and paying attention. Really seeing and hearing our children for who they are, and who they are capable of being. When we are awake to these realities, we can help our children live up to their potential, not in some vague future-oriented goal kind of way, but simply and practically each and every day.
The second is compassionate understanding and acceptance. We won’t always approve or our children’s choices or behaviors, but we can always accept them for who they are – with all their divine talents and limitations. We can graciously accept our strengths and limitations as well. In doing so, we plant the seeds for forgiveness when we – and they – inevitably fall short of perfection. And with acceptance, comes the grace to continue in the face of adversity.
The third is aligned action. Are we acting and speaking with integrity, honesty, and respect to our children? Are we walking the walk, not just talking the talk? What do they see when we interact with our spouse, our relatives, our neighbors, our colleagues? When we step out into each new day, whatever it may hold, and act in good faith, aligned with our values, then we – and our children – grow stronger everyday. The rest of the story will take care of itself.
We don’t need to see the whole staircase. We just need to keep taking one step at a time, with a loving heart, conscious, thoughtful mind, and hopeful spirit.
Beyond that, who knows where the climb will take us. But I do know that when we take each next step in faith, we’ll get where we need to go, and hopefully enjoy the journey along way.
Why do you think I started a group dedicated to the emotional well-being of children and adolescents named MIDSTEP Centers for Child Development? And started the KIDSTEP Coaching Programs to help school-age kids (and their parents and teachers) step into a life-time of success?
Because I believe! It’s worth continuing to help each other take that next step. – Even when we can’t see the whole staircase.
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