Last evening I was talking to somebody about the difficulties and uncertainties of taking the next step. Pick up the mail? Or walk the dog first? Thats relatively easy. However when there’s a sense of a life change lurking in the background the prospect of lifting one foot, let alone bringing the other one along, seems impossible. Or can do. There is a call to make a change. What is the answer. Exactly?

I liken this situation to waiting at a bus stop. Waiting. Waiting for the bus to come. Perhaps it’s raining and, heck! any bus will do surely. Or will it? Still waiting. Maybe the direction of the bus is known, but not the time or the day. Would that be the 10.45 am to Garstang, via Trough ‘a Boland. Or, still waiting. Do I need to wait another three hours for the 1.45 pm, long distance, to Glasgow. And. Wait a moment. Is this the right stop? And the right day, or even year? Is the response right now to simply stay put until the rain stops, the clouds clear and the bus schedule is republished. In other words the answer to the call is to wait. Wait longer.

Taking the next step can be tricky especially when one doesn’t actually know what it is. There is a call yet the details are not audible. There’s no sense of when, where, what or how a move is to be accomplished?

And yet in life there is no standing still. Always there is the imperative for action. Perhaps the largest obstacle to acting in any given circumstance is fear on the one side and desire on the other. What’s a person to do?

Wait while walking on? Sit still, listen and walk? The move might be as simple as making a phone call. Lots of small steps add up.

This posting is for Ruth who’s taking a significant step in her life. Good fortune to you.