Risk

I found this quote about risk a while back and saved it.  I can't imagine why I've been thinking about it lately.   Maybe packing my kid up and taking him with us to a third world country where there are all kinds of diseases, deadly snakes, witch craft, and other dangers has caused me to think about it.  I don't know...

ONLY A PERSON WHO RISKS IS FREE

by Author Unknown

To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.

To weep is to risk appearing sentimental.

To reach for another is to risk involvement.

To expose your ideas, your dreams,

before a crowd is to risk their loss.

To love is to risk not being loved in return.

To live is to risk dying.

To believe is to risk despair.

To try is to risk failure.

But risks must be taken, because the

greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.

The people who risk nothing, do nothing,

have nothing, are nothing.

They may avoid suffering and sorrow,

but they cannot learn, feel, change,

grow, love, live.

Chained by their attitudes they are slaves;

they have forfeited their freedom.

Only a person who risks is free.

I just love this!  It's so true.  I was being a little sarcastic above about all the dangers of Africa, but seriously I have off and on struggled with overwhelming fears about those things.  I always come back to the same conversation in my head that goes something like this, "What am I going to do?  Stay home and play safe.  Miss out on all that God could have for us because I want to be in control?  Live in regret and always wonder what could have been?  Decide that these uncertainties hold greater value than relationships and people?"   Then the answer becomes clear - No way!  It is truly life giving to reach beyond what I can grab onto.  Beyond what I can do myself.  This actually gives God the chance to be who He says He is in our lives.  I'm always so tempted to have a Plan B just in case God doesn't come through.  

Like I shared earlier, this season of preparing to go to Africa has exposed my heart in many ways, and God has already so specifically spoken into those.  There was one week that I was obsessing about the risk of getting malaria while there.  I was spending hours looking up tons of info.  and letting it have large chunks of my thought life.  Obsessing!  It reeled in my head most of the night one night and the next morning Psalm 91 came to mind.  I've read this psalm a thousand times because it is so reassuring of God's protection, but this particular morning one single verse jumped out at me.  Psalm 91:3 - For it is He who delivers you from the snare of the trapper and from the deadly pestilence that stalk by night... Wow!  It not only said I will deliver you, but I will deliver you from deadly little bugs that stalk in the night which is when malaria carrying mosquitos are most prevalent.  Sounds like I wasn't the first person to have this concern, and God loved me enough speak to my specific fear.  I felt such peace and the Father's love that He cared about my heart and what I was struggling with.  From that moment on this obsession about malaria lost its power.  When it does try to creep up, I have this moment and this verse to meditate on.  This is just one example of the ways I've experienced God's faithfulness during this process.   I think God wants to be my Plan A, Plan B, and Plan C.   

I often read the devotional, My Utmost for His Highest.   This one is called "Reaching Beyond our Grasp."   I love his line that says, "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, Or what's heaven for?"

Stay tuned, I'm sure there's more to come...

What's that risk that's calling out to you?  I dare you to take it.