Take Another Step

I blinked, and now it's the end of 2020, a year that has brought more change and grief to more people than any other year in my lifetime. I look back on the beginning of this year, and it feels like another lifetime ago. I was a senior in highschool, unsure of what the fall was going to bring, who had high hopes for her future. I had no idea what was about to unfold, and neither did the rest of the world. And yet, here we are. 

Everyone has their own story from this year, and their own list of struggles and loses that all took place because of 2020. Whatever your story looks like, was there ever a moment when you just didn't know where to go? Was there a moment in 2020 when you had no idea what step to take in what direction, and you just wanted to skip ahead to the part of the story where it was all made clear to you?

Or maybe that's the place you find yourself now. Maybe you're heading in to this new year, totally uncertain about where to go next, and maybe even filled with fear at the thought of it. If that's you, I just want to encourage you...

I feel ya. 

It's hard not knowing what the road ahead looks like. It's hard when you thought you could see a glimpse of the next destination, but then your path took a turn, and now you have no idea where you're heading. It's scary to walk through the unknown, not recognizing anything around or ahead of you. But no matter how scary it is, or how much we want to just stop walking until the road is made clear, the best thing for any of us to do is to always take another step.

When we can't see what's ahead, the best thing to do is just look for what's one step ahead. Look for the next right step. Not the entire journey's worth of steps, but only the next one... Then the next one... Then the next one... before you know it, the road ahead will become clearer and clearer until you're right where you're meant to be. 

It's a short and simple solution to any problem that feels like the end of the road, but it always works. When you don't know what to do, just do the next right thing. Take the next right step. It may feel like nothing, but in the end, it's those little steps that make up the journey of your life. 

It's not the end of the road, it's only the beginning of a new one. You don't see the whole trail clearly at the beginning; you just see what's right in front of you as you choose to keep walking, one step at a time. As we enter this new year, unsure of what it will bring, let's all choose to walk on, one step at a time. 

We'll see where it is we're going soon.