A Small Step of Love is Still a Step of Love
by Rev. Rebecca Mallozzi, Iglesia Presbiteriana de la FeEmmaus, PA

I saw an illustration on a friend’s Facebook page recently that said, “When people talk about traveling to the past, they worry about radically changing the present by doing something small, but barely anyone in the present really thinks that they can radically change the future by doing something small.” I think of the episodes I’ve watched of Doctor Who and some Isaac Asimov books I’ve read and this is generally the principle: you can’t change the past. We can only learn from it.

I find all of these things about time profound, especially the part about how we know from science fiction how something small can radically change the present. With that in mind, we can imagine now how doing something small could radically change our future. We don’t always think about how much holding the door meant to someone. We don’t always think about how stopping two minutes right now to pray might make a difference in the world somehow (at least in our part of the world).

Writer Henri Nouwen wrote in his essay Small Steps of Love (Bread for the Journey, 1997), “Each step is like a candle burning in the night. It does not take the darkness away, but it guides us through the darkness. When we look back after many small steps of love, we will discover that we have made a long and beautiful journey.” Imagine all the small steps of love you’ve taken over the course of your lifetime. Never discount what seems like the most insignificant act of love. Like Moses who didn’t actually cross into the land of promise, you don’t always get to see the results of the seeds you plant. But you can trust God will do something amazing with those seeds!

Ephesians puts it this way: “Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of time, because the days are evil” (Eph. 5:15-16). I don’t know how evil the days are themselves, but certainly we see challenges around us. We live in a sea of uncertainties and we are constantly trying to figure out our next move. I wonder what it might look like to make our next move while making the most of our time. What might it look like to make our next move, our next decision, remembering a small step of love is still a step of love?

You’re doing amazing. We’re all doing the best we can with what we have right now, and I encourage you to seek out the space to take small steps of love not because we can change the past, but because we trust God to use those small steps of love to make a difference in the present and in the future.