Taking things a little bit at a time

By Ellen Shuck

"A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step" is from a famous Chinese proverb. This may sound like a trite and worn-out phrase, but contained inside is much wisdom. A thousand miles is a long way to walk, but it's possible. If you think of the distance in terms of the immense expanse of miles, you will give up. You will think of how tired you'll be when you get there. You'll envision the sweat, cold, rough terrain and other hardships you might endure. It will take a long time, you think. Then, before one knows it, he's given up on the trip. It's too impossible, too draining, and a stupid idea. "I can't do it," you say, and you totally give up before you even start.

A little girl, Elsie, starring in an old western movie I was watching, gained my attention with a like statement. She was talking with a more mature man in the story. Elsie was getting ready to take a trip to California with her father. She could scarcely contain her excitement. "Oh, so you're going to California," the man said. "That's a mighty long way, isn't it?" Elsie came back quickly with, "Not if you take it a little at a time." Elsie's statement has stayed within my memory and I apply it to numerous challenges in my life. Nothing is that difficult if you tackle it a little at a time.

As writer and pastor Norman Vincent Peale said, "Live in day tight compartments."

Don't try to look too far beyond anything and you will cease worrying. Don't try to rush through tasks, attain goals or projects, if it's overwhelming. We can all get through at least one day, maybe cut it down to another hour or minute if need be, but don't try to solve every problem or meet every challenge all at once.

As I talk with people as a spiritual mentor, most of their challenges and problems revolve around worry. If we could cease to worry about people's illnesses, vices, weaknesses, divorces, grown children and so on, people would be so much happier. Most of what we worry about are beyond our control anyway. We can't force our mature children, parents, relatives, neighbors, siblings and friends to do as we wish anyway. Worrying about it and trying to change, what we can't is debilitating to us. Often we feel a lack of control in their lives and call it worry. We ought to search inside and see exactly why we are worrying. It may not be anxiety about someone or something. It may be selfishness on our part. People and situations aren't turning out as we want and think they should. Maybe we're wanting affairs, conditions, diseases, and situations to end before it's time. Everything has a season and a time for beginning and ending. Only God knows this.

All things must begin, then stew and simmer for a time, and when the time is right, it will end. Usually this occurs a little at a time. We shouldn't misunderstand the power of small amounts in time, money, ideas, and faith in God -- in a God that can teach us little by little how to stop worrying. How? By asking that we place our burdens and worries on Him as we go. The mustard seed is one of the smallest seeds planted in the Middle East, yet it grows into a tree, big enough for birds to nest in. Matthew 13:31-32. So it is within our lives. Little things can make a significant impact on the big picture, whether it's a baby learning to walk, a person beginning a business, learning to cook, drive, or any endeavor that requires skill, time, perseverance and plain hard work. "Take everything, a little bit at a time." Little things make a difference.