There are times in life when God decides to show you something or teach you something, although you're not aware of it at the time. You go through the event, blissfully unaware that later when you take time to reflect on it you will realize God was poking you in the forehead saying "Pay attention!" That's what happened to me this past weekend when I traveled four hours from home to the gorgeous Adirondacks to help chaperone a Confirmation Retreat.
Our big event of Saturday was a high ropes course. I had not done anything like this since I was in college doing Orientation Leader teambuilding, and all I really remembered was being terrified and clinging to every available tree I could. Surprisingly, I was really excited for the chance to get to do this again. And then I was in the trees. Yes, we are wearing harnesses and carabineers keep us safely attached to cable so that if we slip and fall we will not plummet to the ground. But still, when you are up working your way through the challenges, it is easy to only have one thought in your head: please don't fall. Instinct seems to kick in and you almost forget that you are actually safe. In the first couple of courses there are places where you have an option to remove yourself from the course and be done. After one or two particularly rough challenges, I found myself standing on a platform with two options. I could travel the cable down and off the course, or I could keep going. So I stood there. I kept looking at Option 1, the safe option. I had made a good stab at high ropes, nobody would think less of me if I opted out. I looked at the challenges just ahead of me. They looked.....hard. A little scary. I was standing there so long that I let one or two people go ahead of me while I wrestled with this decision. Finally, I realized I had been standing there too long. A decision needed to be made. I looked at our youth flying through the course, laughing as they made their way through the challenges and I told myself "If the kids can do it, so can I." So I took a deep breath, and moved ahead with the ropes course.
Later that night I took a few minutes to sit quietly by myself writing in my journal, something I like to do either first thing in the morning or just before bed. I found myself writing about what I had done that day and it was like God smacked me upside the head. Here was a life lesson! How many times in life are we faced with a decision or a challenge where we have to weigh our options? We can go with a known or safer option, one that falls within our comfort zone or one where we know what the outcome will be. Or we can push ourselves. We see a scary option, full of unknowns, one that we know will challenge us and take us to the edge of or beyond our comfort zone. Which do we choose? There's nothing wrong with either. But I know I was happier with the scary option. I challenged myself. Sure, at one point I needed my friend to come back out on a challenge when I got stuck and help me to the platform. ("No Summer left behind" he said.) Even that was a lesson, because I am not one who likes to ask for help. I'm an independent woman, I can do it on my own! But I pushed myself, did things that I wouldn't normally do, and it was great. How many times do I do that in life? How many times am I faced with a path that leads to the scary, the unknown, the potential for failure, and I back away? How many times do I sit back instead of pushing myself? Even more important, when I do take the unknown, how many times do I end up happy I did?
I hope that the next time I'm faced with a life decision, I am brave enough to go with the road less taken, the one where I can't see the outcome, the one that might be a little scary. I hope that you do the same thing also. Take a chance. It so very often is worth it.
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