Inspired by Love

One Turn at a Time
“Therefore encourage one another and build up each other, as indeed you are doing.” 1 Thessalonians 5:11
“Just take one turn at a time!” I called to my son, Conor, as he made his way down the mountain on his snowboard. It was his fourth day on a snowboard, and the first this season. He had spent the morning on the ski-school slope, and now we had taken the chairlift to the top of the mountain. The green dotted trail on the map indicated that it was designed for beginners, but this was his first run on this kind of trail.
I skied and he snowboarded for 30 feet, and we’d stop. Then 40 feet, and stop. Let some more experienced people pass us, then we’d go again. At a steeper part of the trail he fell, then fell again, and yet again, finding it hard to get to his feet on the steeper and narrower slope. He tumbled some more and got snow up the back of his jacket. He was working hard, but he never said he couldn’t do it, he just kept getting up and trying some more. Gradually, one turn at a time, he went further and further between falls, until he was able to take some turns and then stop without falling. We both cheered as he experienced the exhilaration of accomplishment, and I experienced the thrill of seeing his dramatic growth in skill and confidence!
Taking one turn at a time is a great way to approach our lives too. Taking one turn at a time, one task at a time, one day at a time – whatever the daunting thing is that we are facing. It’s good to have someone encouraging us along the way, reminding us not to look too far down the mountain to all the turns ahead. For me it’s fitness – I tell myself that it’s not worth doing if I don’t have an hour to walk or bike, but then I don’t do it at all. Sometimes it’s a project at work that I avoid (the 10-page report with various appendices), telling myself that it will take many hours to accomplish, yet not blocking out the time and not getting started even with one hour.
What is it that you are avoiding, making up somewhat plausible excuses for not starting? Maybe you want to lose weight or stop smoking, or are facing a difficult course of study. Maybe you have lost your job and are overwhelmed by the process of starting a search. Achieving the goals we have for our futures, big or small, begins with a single step – a phone call, an email, a walk around the block – and telling other people about it so that they can encourage us to take the next step, and the next. It won’t be long before we’ll be able to look back up the mountain and admire the trail we’re on!
God of encouragement, thank you for those around us who call us to be our best, one turn at a time. Amen.