The Evening Hour by George Hardy, 1877
How will you create community for women currently alone in their homes?The hardest part of doing anything worth doing is the starting. Taking that first step takes a lot of effort and energy. In physics, that idea is expressed as inertia—the tendency of a physical object to resist acceleration. In other words, left on their own, things tend to stay as they are. Unless something moves them, they don’t move.It’s easy to see how this principle from physical life illustrates a similar reality in our spiritual life. We can experience spiritual inertia. If we are resistant to change—if fear, lack of confidence, insecurity, or any number of conflicting feelings keep us from moving forward—we will resist taking a first step of faith. We need some outside force to move us so we’ll get moving.But God is inertia-adverse. If you are reasonably mature, ready and willing to lead a group, but resisting the idea, you need to know that God is ready to help you move. He is ready to encourage and strengthen you to take that step of faith.To start something new, you must overcome spiritual inertia. Something has to move you to get moving. You’ve probably heard it many times before, but it is true: God can’t steer a parked car. If you are hesitating to take that first step of faith, know first of all that God is ready to step into your life to help. He knows you, believes in you, and wants you to lead this group, so you can trust Him to help. He won’t step in until you step out in faith, but when you decide to shift out of Park and put your life in Forward, He will begin to steer. His Spirit will begin to direct you forward.And just a reminder: The size of your group does not matter to God. He is looking for faithfulness. Every mom in your group will be special to God, whether there are two, twenty, or two hundred. Whether they are there for fellowship, for encouragement, or to learn for the first time what God says about mothering, they will be there because God wants them to be there. And you will be there because He wants you to be there for them, leading those women in seeking after God’s heart as mothers.Excerpt from Taking Motherhood to Hearts by Sally and Clay Clarkson.