Not a fan of baby steps, but...

they get you moving.

I still think they are dumb.  Taking my time and thinly slicing a to-do list to get a task done or attain a complex goal is not appealing to me.  I don't like hearing an organizing tip like "Just tackle decluttering one area in your home for 15 minutes once a day."  For me, a switch in my head flips, and the next thing I know I'm spending my afternoon organizing not only my closet but all of the others in the house.  (So what if I'll be up until 2 am; I'm in "the zone."  If you're hungry, there's Lunchables in the fridge.)  I wasn't a big fan of Dave Ramsey's Seven Baby Steps during Financial Peace University either.  I kept wanting to say, "Let's do this already!"  I wasn't fully satisfied when we got our emergency fund in place because I just wanted to accomplish the next two baby steps by the end of the month.

In a nutshell, I think baby steps are dumb because I want to see progress yesterday.  Doesn't our culture demand this?  Hasn't this become our norm?  I see commercials that tout immediate services, updates to accounts, and fast shipping as ways to make our lives more convenient and helpful.  Sure, it's nice, but it convolutes our thinking when we expect this same immediacy with our relationships and personal capabilities.  Why can't he change already?  Why can't I have an immaculate home like hers?  I need to get all of these errands done today!

So many women (I'm definitely included) have so much selfishness, fear of failure, and forgetfulness of our God's supremacy rooted into our flawed hearts that we feel a distorted need to tackle everything right now...or we'll be left behind in life.  (Surely there's a trap door around here somewhere that will suck me in if I don't get my child writing his full name and social security number by himself by lunch.)

That's one reason I haven't blogged in a while.  It has been kind of bothering me not being able to post.  Updating the blog has been on so many to-do lists over the past couple of weeks but obviously never got checked off.  I feel like I should be farther into my summer agenda.  Sometimes I wonder if I am overly ambitious. 

BUT, if I am happy being productive and getting my long lists done, why have I passed over the obvious and simple tasks like knowing who my neighbors are or greeting people who sit by me at church or picking up that piece of trash that has been sitting on the side of the road by my house that I've been ignoring for two weeks?  You know, the little things, the small to-do's, the baby steps to becoming the woman God wants me to be. 

We always want bigger.  We want recognition.  We want to feel accomplished.  I sometimes think about the times I stayed put because the small or baby steps bored me.  So sad because God uses the big and small in our lives, and baby steps would have kept me moving.