Our society tends to crave instant results. Just look at major college and professional sports programs, corporate projections and executive plans, or even television show development and longevity decisions. Let me see the results now or we'll trade you to another team, destroy your contract, send you to the bench, fire you, or pull the plug on your show. Over the past week I've been thinking a lot about baby steps.
I have especially been thinking about them in the world of the ministry of reconciliation. There is something vital about reconciliation in the kingdom of God. If you're not sure about that, just read 2 Corinthians, Paul's impassioned plea to the community in Corinth to rethink their relationship to him vis a vis God, not the "super apostles" (esp focus on chs. 4-5).
Baby steps in the ministry of reconciliation are vital. They are not easy, because we are nurtured to crave the quick fix. Yet, baby steps are all that most of us have. They are never black and white, never definitive. We have to struggle with those close to us to try to discern what to do, how to live and act in a way that scatters seeds of reconciliation in hope, trusting that the Spirit of God will move in ways far beyond our limited ability, beyond our mere baby steps, to bring about healing, hope, new creation, yes, reconciliation.
God, give us the courage to take baby steps, and do things beyond our imagination when we take those steps in faith.
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