I'll never forget the first steps of my daughter. She had already learned to press her hands on our small coffee table and scoot around. Now she was seeking to walk on her own. I held out my hands, "C'mon, Katherine, come to daddy." Katherine lurched, her legs resembling rubber, bending back even as they propelled forward. With each step, she squealed in delight, a fellow witness to this miracle, teetering toward me and then falling headlong into my arms.

Our Father is waiting for us, too. He is calling out each of our names, his arms extended, waiting for us to take our first steps toward Him.

One of those steps involves getting on our knees in prayer to Him, turning every bit of control of our lives over to Him. The last thing the devil wants is for us to take those first steps, and so, it seems, he will do anything he can to keep us off our knees. Perhaps he fans feelings of embarrassment or tickles thoughts that this is childish. Perhaps he just keeps us occupied with "important" things, unable to fit penitent prayer onto our weekly planners. Yet when we find the time to kneel and pray, to take those steps, to teeter toward Him, what peace we find, falling into the arms of our Father, who will catch us and comfort us and lead us in the way we should go.

Prayer: Father, let me never fear what others think, to keep me from kneeling before you. Show me how to walk. Guide me where I go. Catch me when I fall. Let me plunge into your arms of love and feel your warm embrace. In the name of the One who first showed us how to walk. Amen.

One day, my wife and I were busy tidying the kitchen when she reached into a cabinet and accidentally elbowed a glass. It careened to the floor and smashed into what seemed like a million pieces.

Our cleaning project came to a halt. It was time to pick up the pieces. We swept the floor meticulously, making sure no slivers survived, and threw them all in the trash. Minutes later, our project continued and no one entering would have known anything had ever occurred.

And isn't this true of us? When our lives are shattered, we quickly clean away the slivers lest someone see the mess, even God. The irony is that when we really think we've got it all together is precisely the time we begin to fall apart.

Our first step toward becoming the people the Father would have us be is when we are willing to put down the pieces instead of picking them up, when we are willing to give the God the pieces instead of handling the mess ourselves. It's when we are willing to take such a step of faith that God will handle the mess and give us back our lives, shiny, new, changed.

Prayer: Father, thank you for rescuing us from certain death. How often we want to handle all of the messes we make of our lives all by ourselves. Here are the pieces of our broken lives. Take them, Lord. Put them back together as only you can. Make our lives what they need to be. Change us so it's no longer our will but your will at work. We love you so much, Father. Thank you. In the name of the One who loved us before the world was. Amen.