“Little by little, one travels far.” ~ J. R. R. Tolkien
If you ever watched the movie, What about Bob?, you will be familiar with Richard Dreyfus’ character talking about “baby steps”. In a book titled Baby Steps, he outlined the means for taking ownership and control of one’s life. “It means setting small, reasonable goals for yourself, one day at a time.” Of course, Bill Murray’s character ran with the concept of baby steps to an incredibly ludicrous degree which made the movie as funny as it was; however, the idea of baby steps is a very valid one.
We cannot often conquer things all at once. It takes a lot of time and a lot of small steps. As Tolkien would say, “little by little, one travels far.”
We are on a journey of faith. We are saints-in-the-making. However, we are not there yet. We take our steps to sainthood one step at a time. We are victorious over sin by defeating one temptation at a time. We come to perfect our love one good action at a time. It is that constant, inexorable movement toward God that will one day be rewarded.
If you are disappointed because previous attempts at holiness have failed, try again. Take a small step rather than making a huge leap your goal. If you are upset because your attempts at aiding others have been rebuffed, try again. Do not let failure get you down. Instead, counter any failure by one small attempt.
God will accept your attempt and will bless it. He will give you the grace that you need to make the next attempt. And the next. And the next.
FAITH ACTION: If there is something in your faith life that you have been putting off, consider beginning it today. Just make an attempt, a small step. That, in itself, will make God happy.