When Step by Step is All We Have

I love school, in any form. The smell of pencils, crayons, new books, all of it gives me a strange feeling of excitement. In fact, I have never missed a fall in school, not one. My boys have bought into my excitement, and are ready to go back now-especially after spending 6 months at home. But, I have to admit, this fall has a different sentiment, an added feeling of unpredictability I’ve never experienced before. Sure, there are plans, but they are all tentative. I am hopeful we will go back, but there are so many unknowns.

How will it work? Masks, schedules, lunches, sports-the questions are endless, and unanswerable at this time. Never has there been so much uncertainty. This got me thinking of the song “Step by Step” by Rich Mullins, one of my favorites. Sure, we Christians say that we “follow” Christ. Sure, we know the passage in James that says, “Come now, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit’—  yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes.  Instead you ought to say, ‘If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.'” We even say these words to each other at times, but we have rarely had to actually apply it to our lives.

We love schedules. They give us stability, help us keep our kids busy, make us look like good parents, and, let’s face it, help us keep our sanity. Knowing what is next is what we all want, as much as possible. Until this year. This year the rug has been pulled out from under us, and will continue to be. Activities, plans, and vacations have all been cancelled, and continue to be. Who knows what the next few months will bring. And it’s uncomfortable, unnerving. I don’t know what to tell my kids or myself. Never had I felt closer to some other of Rich’s lyrics that say, “So if I stand let me stand on the promise/That you will pull me through/And if I can’t, let me fall on the grace/That first brought me to You” (If I Stand).

But what if this time of unending uncertainty is not a curse but an opportunity, an opportunity to actually live what we say and rely daily, even hourly on Christ. And follow him instead of our plans. To actually get up each morning and seek him for the day’s activities because, for once, our lives are not already filled up with our own plans. Maybe we can actually deny our plans and pick up our cross and follow him because we actually have time to hear our shepherd’s voice (John 10:27) telling us to take a walk, make a visit, write a note, or have someone over for dinner because our calendars aren’t full for once. So many possibilities! Lord, give us eyes to see opportunity instead of inconvenience, the true work you have for us during these strange times.