As we were walking out of the Nazareth Village, the verse on this sign caught my eye and stirred something in me.  I originally asked JJ to take a picture of just the sign and JJ was smart enough (as usual) to have me go stand in front of it while he took a second picture.

Perhaps you are like me and the thought of expansion is sometimes (okay, full transparency here, frequently) daunting.  I like routine and predictability and enlargement/expansion delves out into the realm of the unknown.  And yet, after a period of time, I also become restless if I feel like I am not growing or learning something new, which forces me to confront the decision of whether or not I want to make changes and step out into something new or learn to be satisfied with the status quo.

I won’t lie – there have been times in my life where I was happy to stay at status quo.  I didn’t want to put in the time, effort, emotion, money, whatever to take the next step forward.  There have been times that I have stepped forward through what I felt was the correct open door in front of me and an amazing opportunity was awaiting my arrival.  And there have been times that I have stepped forward into something that has not worked out the way I thought it would and I had to step back, reevaluate and regroup to see if I needed some course correction to continue down the same path or if I needed to take a new path altogether.  Some of those mis-steps have turned out well with some tweaking and some have not turned out well at all and been quite costly.  What I have learned is that every experience (good and bad), every learned lesson (especially the hard ones) add to the sum of who we are and both prepares us for what continues to lie ahead in life and be more patient with other people when they encounter similar circumstances.

I have read several personal development and “self-help” books over the years.  Most of them seem to boil down to the same general set of recommendations: decide what it is that you want to accomplish, visualize yourself succeeding at the goal you set, put a team in place around you to help you succeed and keep going/maintain your focus until you accomplish your goal.  Easy to say, harder to implement.  For me, I think it all boils down to choosing to put one foot in front of the other every day to walk towards whatever your goal is (getting out of debt, losing weight, improving your marriage, furthering your education, etc).  There will be days that you make tremendous strides forward.  There will be days you fall down.  There will be days you choose not to walk at all.  The important thing is make a new start the next day and take the next step.  Lamentations 3:22-23 states “Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.” (NIV)  And then there is the old Chinese saying by Lao Tzu “The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”  In the same vein, the journey of a thousand miles also ends with a final step, which may become your first step on the next journey.

For me, this blog is my current step of faith in enlarging the place of my tent.  My current goal is to have a weekly post on Sundays and to develop a consistent international readership.  My hope is that the words God gives me to share my experiences help someone who may be going through something I have already walked through, even if it is just to let them know that they are not alone and that someone else has made it through something similar.  If something you have read has spoken to you, would you please do me a favor and click the “follow” button on my blog and/or share a post that is meaningful to you?

What are you currently hoping to enlarge in your life?  How can I assist you with your goal?