In one of the greatest movies of all time, What About Bob, Dr. Leo Marvin treats his patient Bob with the advice to “take baby steps” towards his goals. Bob humorously walks in tiny steps chanting “baby steps to the bus” “baby steps out the office” “baby steps to the sailboat.” With this advice, he is surprised to find that he’s able to accomplish seemingly impossible and terrifying goals!
I’m currently focusing on taking baby steps to God. It can easily seem overwhelming – and let’s be honest not particularly enticing – to explore your faith: read the Bible, go to church, pray a lot, be really good and don’t mess up, the list goes on. But I think God wants us to take Dr. Leo Marvin’s advice and focus on taking baby steps. If you’re like me and fail miserably at getting up in the mornings, baby steps to go from waking up to actually getting to church! And by taking baby steps, like Bob, I’ve been amazed at how far these baby steps have taken me.
The Bible is chock-full of examples of baby steps. Seriously – check it out. There are so many instances of Jesus using a single interaction with a person to change their life – simply by asking one question, or in response to the person making a singular effort. Zacchaeus, a tax collector and generally unpopular person, is short so he climbs a tree to see Jesus. Jesus picks him out of the crowd to stay at his house and changes his life forever. The woman bleeding internally for years struggles through a crowd to touch Jesus’ cloak in the hopes of being healed. Jesus immediately heals her and says, “Daughter, your faith has healed you.” There are more examples than I can include here – after all this is a blog post not a book – but I encourage you to investigate.
I feel that God is trying to show us that all we need to do in our journey right now is to look for the opportunity in your day to take a baby step for your faith. Take the extra few seconds and say thank you or ask someone how they are doing; hold the door for someone in a rush; take a few minutes before bed or in the morning to chat with God. God wants our singular, if small, efforts. The Bible shows us that His responses to our baby steps are never small – they are generous, life changing, and full of hope and love. I challenge you to test my theory in your life: take one or two baby steps every day, and see how God shows up in response. If you need some encouragement, just follow Bob’s example and say “I feel good, I feel great, I feel wonderful!”
-Christina Knudsen
@CBKnudles
