Some Steps

My childhood home had a wooden back porch with rickety steps. During high school, while enrolled in Vocational Agriculture, I learned about building concrete block steps. My dad’s job kept him on the road so his time at home was limited. Usually when he was home he was doing maintenance on his truck. He and I agreed I could make a stab at building concrete steps. He bought the supplies, and pretty much stepped (no pun intended) aside so I could build them.

Shovel and trowel in hand, I tackled the sand, mortar-mix, concrete blocks, water, and dug (literally) into the project. I must have used a plan from class, because I do not recall where I got it. The main thing I remember was how the finished product looked. Better Homes and Gardens would have never posted the picture I never took—but in my mind’s eye, even today—it was beautiful.

The beauty lay in 1) tackling a task I never dreamed I could accomplish, 2) the grit to plow on through to completion, and 3) the joy of knowing someone trusted me to try. True, it was a generic set of common concrete-block steps that no one saw unless they came around into our tiny back yard. But it is a paradigm of setting out and accomplishing a vision.

Recently, in a conversation with my grandson, I told him how pleased I am that he feels happy and fulfilled in his profession. I learned, but kinda knew all along, that it all began in a vision of his future life, and the steps he took to get there. Although he recognizes the “village” that surrounded him, he is due accolades for his persistence and tenacity. History is replete with those who had virtually nothing, or faced seemingly insurmountable obstacles—yet their names are carved in history’s stone for posterity.

You will remember the old Chinese Proverb: “A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” It is attributed to Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu. Almost any goal, achievement—or venture must take steps—-beginning with first one. The highly successful “Twelve Step” recovery program begins with, well, steps. And each step matters.

While writing this, a lifelong friend texted me joyfully about steps—a great-grandson’s FIRST steps. Those steps are the beginning of the proverbial “… thousand-mile journey” that little tyke will take. He just launched out and took those steps—at 9 months old. My first daughter, Melanie was talking when she was born. It took her five years to take her first steps… (you are forgiving my hyperbole, aren’t you?) Different children take different lengths of time taking their first steps.

The Bible has numerous stories of people who thought they couldn’t do some great task laid out before them; Abraham, Moses, Gideon, Daniel, and even the disciples of Jesus—at least twice! Almost anyone may recoil at facing a colossal challenge. Wise ones make assessment of the task, consider available resources, and choose appropriate steps. When the disciples were flummoxed by the hungry crowd and made pitiful suggestions to Jesus, he essentially said to them, “What do you have?” And they took the smallest step possible and made the greatest result imaginable

©Copyright Willis H. Moore 2024