ONE MORE STEP

A crisp Florida morning has the sun rising over the palm trees and dew melting away. The smell of coffee envelopes around me as I warm my hands with the cup. Listening to the birds sing, I sit to take it all in. While the rest of the country is blanketed in snow and cold, here I sit in the coolness of my own little piece of paradise. Another day has begun full of hope, full of promise and full of activity. On today’s agenda, in addition to the regular stuff on the ole to do list. I have meat to put on the smoker and stuff to get ready for the meeting I have at the end of the week. Just another day in paradise.

As I look at this morning with all there is to do I begin thinking about this meeting I have coming up with the TV executives in Nashville. It is one more step toward my dream of success. Each step brings me one more closer to the goals I have set in my life and my career as an entertainer. One more step down the road toward a better life. One more step up on the proverbial ladder of success. Strange thing about one more step is that it’s a step. A simple step. Just a step. However, one step can make all the difference especially when it follows a whole series of them and proceeds a bunch more.

The funny thing about a step is, you have to take it. No one will take it for you or give it to you it’s something you have do for yourself. It’s your decision and it’s your step. When I was a kid, my whole life was one more step. That one more step over the hill led me to a new fishing pond. One more step took me into the woods where I found a tiny cave. One more step found me a lot more of adventures. Now with each of those steps came briers, cuts, sore feet and worn out shoes but I wouldn't trade any of those “one steps” for new and unused shoes.

Each step took effort, energy and most of all it took a desire for adventure. As a kid I knew it was just one more step until I found what I was looking for, whether it was a new place to fish, camp or that little cave. I’ve got the scratches and scars as reminders of a lot of those steps and more importantly, the victories. Every step wasn’t without its trials, its challenges and on some occasions, a little pain. But all in all each step was worth it, even if it was a lesson on where not to step next time. However, each step belonged to me and me alone. I had to be willing to take the first one and then everyone after that. They say the first step is the hardest and they are right but so is the one more step. Just when you feel like stopping, quitting, or just turning back, that one more step can be just as hard as the first one.

Just like the first one, that one more step can make all the difference. The difference between regret or adventure, disappointment or satisfaction, failure or success. If the first step is the most important, then the one more step is a close second on the importance scale. It’s that step that turns to dreams into reality.

So when you think about turning back and giving up just take one more step because it can make all the difference.