Baby Steps

I recently started running again after a short hiatus. Isn't it crazy how quickly you can move backwards when you take a short break from something? I have never been a long-distance runner, but I wasn't expecting to have to fight for one mile. I was so disappointed when I got home. At this rate, I can't imagine ever being able to run a 5k again.

Sometimes the distance between where I am and where I want to be seems way too far. The journey to the goal seems near impossible to reach and easily discourages me from even trying. But what I realized on my morning run the next day was that the only way I can manage is to attempt to take baby steps. On one of these morning runs I was thinking about how many other areas of my life require me to take baby steps.

Most immediately I think of Dave Ramsey's baby steps that we are following to get out of debt, but I have recently seen this in both my marriage and in my walk with God. After experiencing something similar to a Dark Night of the Soul, I have finally started taking baby steps back into the never changing fullness of Christ. I haven't reached my goal in any of these areas of my life....and I can't get there overnight. Each area requires small victories...baby steps....that can be won everyday.

After one week of running a mile, I pushed myself to run one extra block before turning around to head back home. And this week I will try to push through another one. Eventually I am going to be ready for a 5k again.