Rocks

January 29, 2024

We may want to go somewhere, but stepping stones may do the trick if water, marsh, or other obstacles prevent us from getting there. Walking on stepping stones, we are higher than the water and other obstacles; therefore, we do not risk getting wet, falling, or getting bogged down. Then we reach our destination.

Stepping stones are essential in getting us where we want to go. Likewise, in the spiritual path, they are vital. Spiritual stepping stones raise us above levels which would put us in peril. There are several types of spiritual stepping stones.

One type of stepping stone is described in holy scripture. "Turn Your Stumbling Block into a Stepping Stone." (James 1:12-14). Failure, incapacity, and blind spots can take us down. They trip us up, and we stumble and fall. Our stumbling blocks are the roughshod, the rubble, the obstacles in the road. In our spiritual life, our major stumbling blocks are explained in Enneagram studies: our passions, avoidances, traps, and fixations. Turning these stumbling blocks into stepping stones requires our awareness of the stumbling block and how it prevents us from growing spiritually.

Let's look at a stumbling block and see how it can become a stepping stone. Corey, age twenty-one, was enraged and angry because his father abandoned him and his mother when Corey was six. Anger and resentment permeated everything Corey did. He lost job after job because he was inappropriately aggressive with older male supervisors. Finally, he realized his anger was a stumbling block to attaining his desired life. Corey transformed his anger into the energy of helping children abandoned early in life. His transformation was a stepping stone out of his anger and to the life he wanted. Corey is now an author of children's books and is a clinical social worker.

Inquiry: How has a liability been turned into a stepping stone by you?

Dear God,

Instead of resenting my stumbling blocks, please give me the consciousness to use them for my spiritual progress. Amen

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