I live in a quiet neighborhood with narrow lanes running between the houses, no curbs, no sidewalks. The streets are the sidewalks, and people use them for long walks, bike rides, exercise jogs, or (like Jack and I), slow strolls.

The other day I saw a couple power-walking up a steep road toward the lake, the man over six feet tall and the lady under five feet. Somehow, though, they were stepping together in perfect synchrony. After they walked around Jack and I at a fast clip, I studied their movement, trying to figure out how the two of them could possibly have the same length of stride with such different length of legs.

Though their walking looked natural for both of them, the only possible answer was that the man had shortened his steps and the lady had lengthened hers till they met somewhere in the middle. Amazing.

This willingness to change the way they originally walked on their own probably didn’t come without effort. The process must have taken determination from both of them. But the end-result was perfect-pacing that let them walk together as if they were partnered in a smooth dance.

What a great example of how God wants us to pair up with him. First he needs to know we want to get in step with him, to walk in his way. Then he’s hoping we’ll follow up with the work it takes for us to make the necessary changes. (If I’m typical, this can take years.)

As we’re working on that, amazingly God begins to walk so close to our steps that it seems he’s the one making all the adjustments. But what’s really happening is that our submission to his pacing-plans has caused him to facilitate changes in our stride that we never thought we could manage.

Just as it’s a wonder how the tall man and the short lady make synchronized walking work so well, it’s mysterious how God improves our ability to walk in sync with him. We aren’t making it happen; he is, in response to our desire for it.

As for my neighbors, if I had stopped them and asked how hard it had been for each of them to adapt their steps to the other, they probably would have looked at me quizzically and said, “Oh, we just walk together like that naturally.”

My hope is that one distant day I’ll be walking in step with the Lord so naturally that I won’t even remember what it was like to walk in my own way.

“My feet have closely followed his steps…” (Job 23:11)