Earlier this year Jade got into distance running. She trained every day for a 5k and then for a half marathon. While she was doing this I learned a lot about the mentality and motivation of distance runners. I kept encountering a quote which advised, “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” That first step is the hardest and the last is the sweetest, but all of those taken in between are the most crucial. A lot can happen between the start and finish line. Runners tell me that the greatest obstacle you will face is yourself, and the greatest motivator you have is also yourself. When you don’t want to run anymore, take another step. Will you allow God to use you as a stepping stone or will you resist and become a stumbling block?
Recently I was talking with a good friend and spiritual mentor about where we’ve been, where we are and where we are going. We laughed about how things had turned out (exactly as we’d asked God, just not in the manner in which we thought it would come about). I guess you could say that God took us on the scenic route. All of this lead us to one conclusion: God is always moving things forward and we can either be a stepping stone or a stumbling block. Nobody really wants to be a stepping stone, after all, it requires getting stepped on. On the other hand, being a stumbling block isn’t any better. Stumbling blocks still get trampled under foot, but they have the added stigma of knocking others down, while stepping stones enable people to move forward.
It would be nice to be the one doing the stepping, but sometimes its necessary to play a small part in a bigger plan. John the Baptist wasn’t the end of God’s plan, but he was a necessary stepping stone. His job was to bring Israel from the law of Moses to Jesus, and he did. Are you content allowing God to use you to help advance His plans by being a stepping stone? Or will pride and ambition cause you to rise up against it and becoming a stumbling block? The things that sometimes disappoint or frustrate us might appear different when viewed from another perspective....heaven’s. Being a stepping stone is an honor when you realize God has chosen you to get a person, a family or a church from point A to point B. You weren’t the ultimate goal or the end result, but you were a necessary step for them to get there.
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