Transformation and First Steps

In a journey of religious transformation, the first step is never a wrong step. It may be uninformed or misguided or unfortunate or even ridiculous. But it is never wrong. The step after the first step is more telling as it may indicate a particular direction that lends itself to some sort of evaluation or consideration.

Jazz great Miles Davis is quoted as having said, "It’s not the note you play that’s the wrong note – it’s the note you play afterwards that makes it right or wrong."

But even those next notes or next steps, although they may be wrong-minded or ill-considered, are not actually wrong in themselves because there’s always another note or step yet to come. It’s possible to construct a melody that doesn’t make sense for quite some time until you come upon a note—sometimes the note—that makes sense of all that came before it.

So it is with the journey of transformation.  When we take that first step, we cannot possibly know where it will lead us. In fact, the more we think about that first step, the less likely we are to take any step at all and instead remain mired exactly where we are.

Take a step. Take it boldly and with joy. You may later regret that first step, but at least you will have started the journey and you will have done so in a spirit that will sustain you.