I have been enjoying the slowly but surely, the baby steps of life, the taking of one step at a time. I so often try to take big leaps of change, with faith and ambition… yes, but with patience… No. With my weak body lacking strength, my body doesn’t make it to the other side of the canyon. Instead, I fall into the crevasse of the canyon. Why? Because far too many times I have tried to do it on my own. If I am a branch, how can I survive without the vine? I can't. I need water. I need nourishment. The ugly dry branches I surely want to break off, but the ones that can bear fruit must be supplied with nutrition. The parallel, God's Word, the bread of life. I am blessed to have sound judgment. Blessed to know God's Word. Blessed to examine my heart and be able to actually see what needs to be changed, refined, and pruned. But it is patience that I am praying for, because I know I have a long journey ahead. The road keeps going and I cannot see the end of it. I know it leads to the pearly gates and I rejoice in that, but there are some big boulders in my path keeping me from moving forward. Yes I am on the path, but without this boulder in my way and the things to the left and the right that distract me, I can keep my focus on what is ahead and run a little faster. It is going to take patience and help from the Holy Spirit to move this boulder out of the way. I know those distractions will always be there until I am in heaven and sin is no longer, but the more founded I am on God's Word, the more I love His law, the more I observe His testimonies and seek Him with all my heart, than the more those distractions to the left and right will get smaller. Moreover, may the layers of sin that slow my streamline shed from my body, to make more of Him. I see my need for the cross more than ever.

"I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing." John 15:5