Some Thoughts on Walking

I have a baby girl (someday I'll probably finish writing her birth story, but that's not this post). She amazes me everyday. She's almost five months old and is quite close to crawling (well, scooting actually, but she's a good month ahead of where her brother was and he was early). She started trying at only about a month or two old. When we gave her tummy time, she showed no interest in rolling to her back, only to move forward. I thought for a while that she'd learn to scoot before she learned to roll, but she did learn to roll first. Despite how well she's doing and how amazed I am at her, she often becomes very frustrated. She'll be on her tummy trying to get to a toy, and despite how close it is, it always seems to be just out of reach. She'll try and try and grunt and eventually cry out in frustration. During all this I watch her and encourage her, all in joyful amazement at her development and growth, at the miracle that she is. While she obviously feels frustrated, I feel no such distress, only pride and amazement at what she's able to do and how far she's come.

Sometimes I become frustrated with the things I'm trying to do. Sometimes the things that I want to do or think I need to do seem completely impossible. And sometimes when I pray for help and express my frustration, I feel like the Lord is unconcerned, positive, but unconcerned, which really aggravates me. "Hey!" I think, "I am struggling here. A little help or at least a little advice would be greatly appreciated!" But still, my feeling is that He remains unconcerned.

Now back to my little girl. When she's trying to get that toy that continually eludes her, and grunts and complains, I don't immediately pick her up or get the toy for her. Why? Because I know she can do it, and I know that it won't be long before she does. She doesn't know how well she's doing, but I do. She doesn't know that soon she'll be doing more than moving an inch or two and getting hold of a toy; soon she'll be full on crawling, something that may seem impossible to her now, but I know she'll do it, and I know it will become easy for her. I even know that in a few short months, she'll do something she probably hasn't even considered. In not really very long, my sweet baby girl will stand up and walk, and in not very long, walking will be easy for her.

I must remember that God is my Heavenly Father, and compared to Him, I am only a baby. Maybe I am doing better than I think and maybe what appears impossible to me now will with time and practice become easy. Maybe the fact that He seems to be so unconcerned with my difficulty is just a sign that I'm doing well and that He knows I'll not only be able to do what I'm trying desperately to but that I will do it. The Lord has a much greater concept of who I am and of what I am capable than I have even considered, just as I have a greater concept of my baby's abilities than she has. Maybe seemingly impossible things are quite possible if only persistence is applied. Maybe someday, I'll do the impossible . . . maybe someday I'll get up and walk.