Not Size But Direction That Matters
For Women by Women
Submitted by Trish Williams
January 10, 2025
Ps 37:23 The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.
“Mother May I” – a forgotten childhood game – was a good training tool to teach children to listen to instructions, obedience, consequences of choice, and focus on the goal. As a player in the game, it was necessary to listen to the details concerning the step that one might take.
As believers, God desires for us to have listening ears that are sensitive to the specific instructions He is giving to us, so that we might have serving opportunities and blessings. If we are dull of hearing, we act upon what we thought we heard, later to realize that our hearing was impaired by the wanderings of our minds. We missed the details and consequences to one degree, or another will follow.
Ps 16:9 Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope.
In the game, disobeying one simple rule resulted in a return to the starting line. The rule was asking permission (“Mother, may I?”) before performing the specially dictated action. How often do we truly seek permission from the Father before taking our steps in life? Imagine how different our life could be if we developed that simple little rule as a lifestyle choice.
The spiritual walk of believers resembles the game in yet another way. In the game we advanced by taking different sizes or types of steps. The steps could be tiny steps, giant steps, or scissor steps. As believers, we find that sometimes our spiritual steps seem so tiny to what we want them to be. At other times, we may take a giant step or two, only later to encounter a criss-cross pattern as we navigate struggles on our path.
As children, focusing on the finish line seemed to be the easiest part of the game, as we all wanted to win. The challenge was in having patience and learning that it was not about the size or types of our steps, but rather the direction of our steps that mattered. If we listened and obeyed the simple rule, our steps kept going toward the goal that we might obtain the joy of winning. But with each act of disobedience, we had the consequence of turning around and going back to the start line – the opposite direction.
Ps 119:133 Order my steps in thy word: and let not any iniquity have dominion over me.
Consider – It isn’t the size of our steps – but the direction that matters.
