Our nine-month-old grandson Lee just learned to walk behind his little push-cart, and his parents are over the moon. They cheer. They congratulate. They take videos. He is having fun, but I’m pretty sure his parents are having even more fun than he is.
They are overjoyed because their little guy, who could only crawl yesterday, is tottering along on two legs today. They aren’t upset or annoyed that he can’t really walk yet. They don’t demand faster progress. They don’t stand with their arms crossed, scowling, until he ups his game. They are delighted with his baby steps.
I think that is how God feels about me when I practice something He is teaching me-—letting go instead of controlling, for instance; or being grateful instead of whining. So, the next time I start to berate myself for not being more (whatever), I’m going to remember Lee’s parents. And then I’m going to enjoy my new baby steps.
“It was I who taught [My people] to walk. I took them in My arms. . . . I bent down and fed them.” Hosea 11:3-4
“[T]he Holy Ghost over the bent / World broods with warm breast. . . .” Gerard Manley Hopkins