Staying on the path

Everyone stumbles. Knowing the common trips ahead of time is half the defense:

• Grandiose goals. The plan that requires a perfect life will not survive your actual life. Shrink it.
• The big “catch-up.” Miss three days and the guilt-fueled binge begins — then the quitting. Here’s the grace: just resume. Skip the make-up reading entirely.
• Attention span. If focusing feels hard, that’s not a character flaw — it’s the water we all swim in. Attention is stamina; it grows with use. Start with ten minutes.
• Confusion. Some passages won’t make sense without their historical setting. Write the question down, keep walking, and ask someone — a mentor, a teacher, a pastor.

That’s the first stretch of the journey. One step left: seeing where the path forks.