The Next Faithful Step
I’ve been wondering how to begin something like this — a first letter, sent out to a handful of people, hoping it becomes a small rhythm we keep together. The honest answer is that beginnings are almost never the way I imagine them. They’re smaller. Quieter. Less certain. So it seemed right to start with a poem about exactly that.
The Next Faithful Step
The next faithful step is usually smaller
than I want it to be.
I prefer a vision, a plan, a clear assignment,
something large enough to quiet
the anxious part of me
that wants proof I am still moving
somewhere that matters.
But often God gives one step.
Make the call. Write the note.
Take the walk. Say the prayer.
Tell the truth. Rest today.
Begin again.
It can feel almost too ordinary to trust.
Surely calling should come
with more thunder.
Surely guidance should arrive
with enough detail
to remove the possibility of fear.
But the life of faith seems to be built
less by grand certainty
than by small obediences
offered one at a time.
A step does not need to see the staircase
to be faithful.
It only needs to answer the ground
directly in front of it.
There is humility in this.
The humility of accepting
that I am not asked to carry
the whole future before breakfast.
The humility of believing
that today’s mercy is enough for today,
and tomorrow’s will arrive
when tomorrow does.
So I look at the place
where my foot can land.
Not the whole road.
Not the far horizon.
Not the imagined version of myself
who has everything figured out.
Just this small patch
of holy ground called now.
And I ask for grace
to take the next faithful step,
trusting that the God who meets me here
will also be waiting
when my foot comes down.
Wherever this finds you, I hope the ground directly in front of you looks a little more like enough.
Tom