I was running my standard route a couple of days ago, and as I glanced up from the pavement I literally stopped in my tracks. The tree branches arched over the path to form a tunnel of sorts, and the early morning light filtered through the canopy, falling dappled and soft onto a carpet of crisp leaves. To my left a spray of cat tails stood regal and proud in the marsh, set against a cerulean sky. A warm breeze blew, dancing shadows across the concrete and releasing a shower of leaves like an autumnal ticker tape parade, right there on deserted bike path in Lincoln, Nebraska.
It was breathtakingly beautiful. So beautiful, in fact, I stopped the podcast I was listening to mid-stream and snapped a picture with my phone. But as I aimed the lens and clicked, I noticed how the concrete path seemed to disappear into the thicket. I knew what lay beyond what my eye could not see: a blockade, a tall chain-link fence that had been erected to protect passersby from the bridge construction up ahead.
Despite the beauty of that scene, I sighed out loud, because suddenly, all I could see in that moment was the long road ahead of me, disappearing into a tangle. All I could think about were the potential barriers and road blocks and impediments that lay ahead.
I know you’ve felt this way, too. Those days when the road feels long, when the journey seems headed toward a messy thicket, when all you can think about are the road blocks that surely await around the bend. Those days when, surrounded by breathtaking beauty, all you can see is a long road leading to nowhere.
If you’ve been reading this blog for more than 30 seconds, you know by now that I struggle with striving, with the need to achieve and accomplish, with the desire for success. You know I sometimes yearn for bigness and the need to be Someone Important.
By God’s good grace I’ve made some pretty good progress with this struggle over the past several months. Honestly, though, it’s a two steps forward, one step back kind of journey for me, and sometimes I think too long about that concrete path unfurling ahead of me and all the barriers standing in my way, and I think, “No thank you. I’m done. I quit.”
This is exactly why I am grateful for people who speak the truth to me, people who remind me about what really matters and help me shift my perspective – again — so that I can take yet another step.
Deidra Riggs is one of these people. I cannot even tell you how grateful I am that I get to live side-by-side with Deidra in real life right here in Lincoln, Nebraska. But here’s the good news, friends. Now you, too, can soak up Deidra’s wisdom because she has written a book! I know! A book!
On the very day I snapped that picture of the long, straight path heading into nowhere and sighed out loud over the fact that I felt like I was heading into a big, fat thicket, I read this in Deidra’s brand-new book Every Little Thing: Making a World of Difference Right Where You Are:
“Do the next thing. Do the next, small thing. God is not measuring by the world’s standards. God set the world in motion, and God is making all things new — every little thing.”
It was exactly what I needed to hear at the exact right time. That’s so like Deidra. She has a gift for always speaking the truth I need, whether she’s sitting right next to me in person or speaking to me from the page.
Honestly, there will always be days when the journey feels a bit too long, the load a bit too heavy to carry. Days when we wonder about our purpose, whether we even have a real purpose. Days when we are tired of two steps forward and one step back. Days when we’re convinced the path can only lead into a big, fat thicket with an unscalable barrier at the end of it all.
On those days, Deidra advises, it’s best to downsize our thinking a bit and take stock of the place where our feet our planted:
“Let go of your grip on fear. Just look at your feet. Go ahead. Take a deep breath and look at them, and then consider where they’re planted. How many steps would you have to take to make a difference for good? For God? Probably not as many as you once thought.”
Some days, one step is enough to make a difference. Some days, one small step is more than enough.
{I probably don’t even need to tell you how much I love this book. But I’m going to tell you anyway: I love this book! And I love the woman who wrote it! There is SO much wisdom in these pages. But don’t take my word for it…buy a copy for yourself!}
From the back cover of Every Little Thing:
Everyone has had that moment–we see a need in our church, our school, our neighborhood, our family, or our world and we think, Someone really should get to work on that, never imagining that we might be the answer to that need. We don’t have the time, the expertise, the money. We’ve got careers to manage, bills to pay, meals to prepare, and families to attend to. Besides, who are we to think we can change the world?
In this encouraging and empowering book, Deidra Riggs calls readers to accept God’s invitation to join him in making a difference right where they are, regardless of their current life stage. She shows readers that they were created with a purpose and with the capacities to fulfill that purpose. And she reminds them that it’s not up to us to fix the world, but it is up to us to join God–and the rest of his people–in his redemptive work. For when God calls and we look over our shoulder and answer, “Who, me?” God always emphatically answers, “Yes, you.”
