Children have spiritual milestones just like physical ones. First, they learn to eat (and poop) and hold their heads up. They then roll over, sit up, crawl, walk, etc. It takes nurturing, time, effort, and encouragement from parents as a child learns to walk. If children skip any stages, such as the crawling stage, it can actually cause learning problems as crawling opens certain pathways in the brain needed to learn. The very first emotional / spiritual milestone is trust. Without even the tiniest bit of trust, how do we learn (or re-learn) to eat spiritual food and hold our heads up? How can we crawl to God? Will we ever be able to walk with God without nurturing, time, effort and encouragement from His people? What if His people have been neglectful or abusive parents?

We need each other. That is why God told us not to avoid fellowship. But true fellowship requires an “I wonder” attitude–to be open. But do people have the kind of long term commitment and availability to be “God with skin on” for someone who can’t even eat–much less crawl? I wonder.