Gradually

Sometimes in life, we feel the weight of our failures so keenly we're made desperately aware of our need to change. There is a constant pressure and tug for us as wives and moms to do 800 things, all with perfect elegance and ease. Exercise, cook healthy meals, take our vitamins {and make sure the kids take theirs}, read, read to our kids, spend time in the Word, memorize the Word, lose that baby weight, get up early, pray, volunteer, participate in church and school and the neighborhood, and on the list goes.

All of these things are good {to varying degrees of importance}. And we might really, really need to make big changes. But even a person about to drop off the edge of a precipice can only back away one step at a time. Sure, they might go really fast or really slow, depending upon a myriad of circumstances. Nevertheless, one step at a time.

As humans we tend to embrace an all or nothing mentality. While nothing gets us nowhere, all can quickly lead to burn out. The challenge is to embrace gradual, sustainable change. Little steps adopted one at a time, repeated over the long haul, will make a world of difference and cross the longest plain.

I told you recently that I'd dropped my Scripture memory program over a year ago because it had become unsustainable with two small children {note: Scripture memory itself had not become unsustainable, just this particular program. Shame on me for not trying something else sooner}. To gradually ease myself back in, I've been writing out one of my previously memorized passages each day into a new little flip book. Once they're all in there, I can review them at a pace congruent with my life as it is now.

Keeping it in my purse or on the counter, I can briefly go over them in the little minutes. While waiting at the doctors office, watching the kids play, stirring dinner on the stove top, etc.

Just gradual change, one day at a time- trusting it will last a make a difference in the long haul.

What gradual changes do you need to make right now- and how can you accomplish them gently?