Where to Start? (9/19/2023)

Yesterday I got an email from a dear and precious friend overwhelmed with a task at hand. As I read her message, I understood all too well the dilemma facing her. At times, when we face a task, it can seem too big, too challenging, too overwhelming. And I wished I could show her what I learned from working with youth with learning disabilities. I didn’t teach them; they taught me. The secret isn’t in the “where,” the secret is in the “start.”

Working with a young woman once with dyslexia, she explained to me that her perception of the situation was that it was just too overwhelming to tackle. And then she walked to a corner of the room she was tasked with cleaning and started moving things out into the hall. I asked her what she was doing. She replied that she was “starting.” Then she shared her take on the situation. “If I just have the courage to start, the rest will work itself out.” And within an hour, she had completed her task.

I have used that piece of wisdom so many times. Today is a perfect example. The LORD inspired me with this memory. I didn’t know where it would lead, not exactly. I wasn’t sure how I’d begin. But then I sat down at my computer, and here we are in paragraph three. My student gave me a great gift when she showed me that sometimes the fear of starting is what is holding us back. Start where I am. I can edit later. Just start.

Our spiritual journey can be like this. We look out. Where are we headed? We look inward. Where do we begin. We make the mistake at times thinking that we need to do a global overhaul, which in all honesty we could and probably do. But it begins with one step, one action. I wonder how many of us this morning are hovering over the “start” of our journey waiting for the perfect approach to occur to us. The LORD invites us to “start”, one foot forward, one step with the courage of the Spirit and hope in the LORD’s promise of being with us always.

The saddest thing to me at times as I survey the world are the number of “Somedays.” Our LORD is I AM. The LORD was with us in our beginning. The LORD will be with us in the future. But the LORD is above all else love now, present. Let us use our present. Let us “start” with confidence that the LORD will guide us and strengthen us and that the LORD is with us now. Let us begin our journey this day, a new day.

Until tomorrow, let us all love well.