Steps

2015 begins with a frequent and often annoying question around the Oliphint house.  "How many steps do you have?"  Everyone got a fitbit for Christmas and some of us are tracking our steps daily.  Sadly, it doesn't really motivate us to exercise (not much of a New Year's resolution family), but it does give a clear picture of active days, days when we are resting or even when we are just being slugs.  As a kindergarten teacher, the accumulation of a lot of little steps is not hard to accomplish.  Weekends leave me feeling sluggish as my daily total cuts in half (or less) of weekday activity. 

While it's beginning of a new year, it's also the end of the semester-- the half way point for the school year.  This is the time of year when kindergarten teachers (I assume all teachers) see their students take off with confidence using new skills and strategies.  Dozens and dozens of little steps add up to create precious readers and writers.  Every August I think to myself: the task it too hard, there are too many individual needs, there is too much material to cover and too many little steps on the road ahead.  So, we begin with the basics- one day at a time:  Letters have names and sounds.  Letters make words.  Words have spaces between them.  Words combine to make (complete thoughts) sentences.  We move from left to right and top to bottom to make sense of these sentences.  Oh, right after we get a handle on individual letter sounds, we discover that letter combinations make a mess of everything, so we have fun tackling the crazy combinations of letter sounds.  It's all these tiny steps that build something beautiful and bigger than any of us, something as natural as learning to speak. 

Just this week, we observed a school holiday honoring Martin Luther King Jr.  Over the break, Kyle and I went to see the Oscar nominated film Selma, which portrays some of the small steps along a very long road to freedom.  The movie literally shows thousands of people stepping arm in arm to advance the movement towards racial equality.  It struck me that this movie, filled with brutality, hate and evil, took place within my husband's lifetime and just before I was born.  Upon returning to school, I read an age-appropriate story about MLK to my students.  Beautiful faces of every color listened intently as we read some of our country's recent past.  Millions of steps in history (from Lincoln to MLK) worked to form this image of God given equality before my eyes on the classroom rug.  

Finally, tonight our church family- Grace Community Presbyterian Church- celebrates a decade of ministry together in Ft. Worth, Texas.  When the Oliphints moved to Texas ten years ago, our girls were 2 (and three quarters), 5 and 7 years old.  We joined a church plant, not yet an organized church, where we worshiped in a strip mall, a day school and a local elementary cafeteria.  Over the years, our family has had a front row seat-- witnessing God's blessing on this body of believers.  Our faithful Lord has ordained countless steps while building His church.   As I look back over the decade(s), I am increasingly mindful of His powerful presence every step of the way and His redeeming work in my life. 

"Turn to me and be gracious to me, as is your way with those who love your name.  Keep steady my steps according to your promise, and let no iniquity get dominion over me.  Redeem me from man's oppression, that I may keep your precepts.  Make your face shine upon your servant, and teach me your statutes.  My eyes shed streams of tears, because people do not keep your law."  Psalm 119

"I waited patiently for the LORD, he inclined to me and heard my cry.  He drew me up from the pit of destruction, out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure."  Psalm 40

"The heart of a man plans his way, but the LORD establishes his steps."  Proverbs 16