January 29, 2020

The Family Circus comic strip on Monday showed a father and son walking in the snow. Dad was in the lead and the boy was trying to walk in his footsteps, which were a lot farther apart than the boy’s small legs could handle.

“Walk smaller, Daddy! I’m trying to walk in your footsteps.” We can hear the desperation in those words, as well as determination. Several realities have me pondering the significance of those words.

I am aware of times when I expected maturity from someone before they were ready. My impatience made life difficult for them. In the Apostle Paul’s words, “I frustrated them.”

Busyness can make us fail to consider who is following us. We need to take the time to be aware of our pace of life and make it easy for disciples to keep up. Sometimes it will mean stopping and reviewing, perhaps doing some steps over.

I am grateful that followers of Jesus never need to ask Him to “walk smaller.” He leads us with a balance of easy footprints and a challenge to add distance over time. He knows where we are and what we can handle.

The local church is a family where some people are just learning to trust Jesus as Savior and others have walked in His footsteps for decades. A beautiful sight is to see a seasoned Jesus follower helping a new believer walk smaller. Eventually, that person may be taking larger steps than their mentor does. I hope that they will remember to walk smaller for someone else at the appropriate time.

Pastor Bill Ehmann