SOME DO LEAP, SOME DO STEP

All Do Get There!

• Romans 12:2: “And be ye not conformed to this world but ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”

• How strange it is for me, who used to be a sprinter, who ran the 50 yard dash in 6th or 7th grade, in 6.8 seconds...who always walked fast throughout my 31 years of living in San Francisco...to now feel like plodder in Elder years??

• Plods do get somewhere, albeit not in impressive condition. Plod is slow, “steady as she goes”...which is even more hilarious to me, as I am the poster girl for up, down and sideways. ME??? Slow and steady as she goes?? Where, to Lower Slobbovia?? ( note….you had to be there…)

• Good grief, the changes to life as you get old...

  This is ARGH-ARGH-ARGH TERRITORY.

  Even I can learn some new clues as Holy Spirit nudges me to remember things from my past, that actually could shed light on tactics and

  strategies for getting out of the stuck-pit, where I have pitched my pup tent for many a day. Curmudgeon-ville does not seek movement...it fears it, as loss of control. Do NOT get me started on the joy of being a control freak!

• In the meantime, let us saunter ( meander?) down memory lane to Wendy’s physical education history, very exciting place of lessons learned ( with grass stains and sand in your socks!) Hmm...

  Holy Spirit today reminded me of another element of P.E. in elementary school...the long jump. I was not a jock, despite my sprinting abilities. I was a bookworm . Interesting note, as I prepared this writing, I looked at a few videos to refresh my memory of the long jump and procedures. I did find that not all the professional athletes had the “three extra steps” method of initial propulsion into the sand pit. Some of them did but most simply had those long, powerful legs that simply PROPELLED them, after running at top speed, toward the sand pit and in a mighty leap, flew into the pit.

• For us little kids back in the 1960’s elementary school, the long jump gave an interesting method of propulsion: the jump “ pit” was a long rectangle filled with sand. One would stand at the starting line at the far opposite end of the rectangle, gather oneself and take off running on a dirt trail, toward the sand pit. As you began running, you would have three focused steps you would take in between the start of run and the mighty leap into the sand. Each running “ step” acted as essentially a propelling force, that when combined, added momentum to the final leap, flying into the sand with a quiet thud.

  I never thought of the strategy of it before, not being an athlete, but even so long ago, I can see the physics of the effort that pushed me forward. BTW, I did well with the long jump, who would imagine a bookworm, doing well at the Long jump???

• Looking back on my vast 73 years, life seems like one long jump, amidst the smaller daily steps over mountains, both small and large. I have tended to stay by the wayside, hunkered down in survival mode. I never sought out mountains, as they were just too formidable.

  Many of us in survival mode are highly intimidated by the roughshod pressures of the material realm.

• I don’t leap, I step...but I actually do get somewhere. I admire some elements of leapers...but I remain as one who does the one step, one day. That is solid and stable ground for one who deals with worldly structure in a more low-key manner.

  Holy Spirit is truly The Great Teacher, not like a scold, hanging over you with a ruler, waiting to whack you if you miss something ( and way to make you miss something...) No, Holy Spirit is also what Christ called “ The Comforter “, Whom He sent after He went Home to Heaven, to not only comfort His people on His departure, but as “ He will lead you into all truth”...

• He has most certainly been that for me, with myself as an empath who feels so deeply and is often flattened and intimidated by the hard- driving world. He walks with me as I am and teaches me one step, one day, how to use the gifts God gave me.

• I just now had a direct demonstration of the mercy of God.

  • Being a sensitive soul, I can get easily “ smooshed” and overwhelmed. Even little things affect me at times.

    Holy Spirit, Who knows my temperament and soul and the level of distress I live with...brought a video across my path just now, a STEP, not a leap. A construction crew working alongside an icy river in deep winter, had a disastrous accident in which their huge crane fell over on softened ground and into the icy current on the river, and was stuck in the mud as well. All attempts to pull the crane out, failed. As the construction foreman was preparing to accept a total loss of all, including his work, up drove a 73 year old man who had history in the nearby steel mills and a Father who did as well. His Dad built a heavy 1940’s truck that was an industrial tow truck with bits and pieces of scrap from the steel mill. Long story short, amidst laughter and mockery, the old man with decades of experience, slowly examined the problem, put on his waders and waded out a few feet to the stuck crane, attached the hook to the crane, and used his truck equipment to dislodge the mud’s grip from the crane. INCH by INCH, the crane began to move...until finally, they heard a loud pop, the mud gave way and the crane was freed.

    WEW’ s lesson: direct experience combined with faith, moves mountains and mud...and even a step can move one forward.

    AND yet one more seemingly implacable pothole in my path...smart phone keyboard quit working, no typing screen appeared, one of my tools of art, blocked. Prayed, got out my old phone, turned it on, typed in a question regarding phone keyboards...many answers, pursued the top one on newer phone, it worked!

    God, no stick threatened over my head, no scolding, just His immense heart of mercy over one stressed daughter...

    What a Papa we serve...I’m so grateful to be a flawed daughter trying her best in HIS hands!

    Thanks be to God for His immense loving mercy over a sometimes ragged and sorrowful daughter.

  • I may not be a mighty Leaper... but my steps add up just the same. I will not stop the slow, steady plod toward Eternity, until I cross into the Gates of Heaven.

  WHO IS COUNTING???

• Wendy Elizabeth Williams Friday, May 15, 2026

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