A great mistake -- perhaps our greatest mistake -- is not to seek the guidance of God enough. We seek it generally, and formally, and ritually, but we do not seek it specifically enough nor frequently enough. We tend to reserve God's direct guidance for "emergencies": we feel we can handle all ordinary affairs with our own unerring understanding and common sense. We wouldn't say so, but we act that way. We know nothing, and have no sense, common or otherwise. Seeking God's guidance must be a continuous, conscious, moment-to-moment operation, in all things, great and small. It must, as much as possible, by constant effort and remembrance, become second nature. This is how those of old who succeeded, did succeed, and how those who failed, failed. Of ourselves, we are ignorant and foolish, and no amount of worldly education or knowledge can change this basic fact, although it can mask and obscure it, and deceive us concerning it. Only in the sought-for guidance of God moment to moment is there any possibility of "directing the steps aright." It's a fatal error to leave God's guidance to the "big" things. It is the constant "little" things that are shaping our character and our destiny. God is not a compass to be glanced at occasionally and briefly, to see that we are moving generally in the right direction. He is the balance-pole on the tightrope of life: essential for safety every moment.

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