“Faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” – Martin Luther King, Jr.
The above has always been one of my favorite Martin Luther King, Jr. quotes. Honestly, it has always been one of my all-time favorite quotes, all together. There are so, so many times in life when we have had to take that first step, leading to a lot of unknowns. When we left home for a school of our choosing, our relationships we have nurtured including our friendships and marriages, each time we decided to have a child, the jobs and career decisions, where we have moved and lived, the list goes on and on – all becoming the steps, in our own individual Life’s staircase. The truth of the matter is, that we don’t see the whole staircase, ever. We surmise what is coming up as we ascend the steps of our lives, but we really don’t fully know or understand, what lies ahead. There may be obstacles on a step ahead that can cause us to trip, fall and to get hurt. There may be a gorgeous, large, landing on the next step, where we can rest and relish how far that we have come. We can make educated guesses about our next steps in life, but in the end, we do all of our ascension, in Faith. Faith takes us up the ladder of our lives and most of the time, we don’t even realize it. Faith is a strong force inside each of us that allows us to trust ourselves and to trust forces greater than ourselves, to know deep down, that whatever is ahead of us, as we climb the stairways of our lives, we will be able to handle it all, and we will grow. Knowing this, we can anticipate the next steps with hopeful anticipation and wonder, while holding on to the handrail of our Faith.