Move Forward

Martin Luther King Jr once challenged listeners with these words,

“If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” 

This year has been one where moving forward has been quite a challenge.  There have been many days where I’ve wanted to curl up in ball and just stay on the sofa.  Or as another friend bemoaned, “I want to go to sleep and wake up to June 2021 where everyone has been vaccinated and Covid no longer makes the news.”

But here we are … in the first week of December 2020.

I believe for Christians this season of Advent gives us guidance for how to navigate these dark and depressing days.  Advent calls us to remember the past while we move forward with our eyes on the future.  We look back to God’s faithfulness in history, especially the birth of Jesus two thousand years ago.  This act of God becoming flesh and living on this earth highlights God keeping his promises and proving his faithfulness in challenging times.  In addition to biblical testimony, I’m sure, like myself, you can look back on your own life journey and see where God has proven His faithfulness.  I can count several experiences where God brought me through some very dark and doubt filled days.

As we stand on a solid foundation of seeing where God has worked in the past, we now step forward trusting God to sustain us today as He leads us to a brighter future.  While we know God’s future ultimately culminates with the eternal reign of Jesus and the kingdom of God, may we live glimpses of that future today and the days to come.

So whether we run, walk, or crawl today, we move forward.

And along the way, may we help others move forward… so make a call, write a note, or send a text.  Help someone you know who’s curled up on the sofa of fear and failure to crawl or walk, to somehow move forward today.