Is it me, or are we afraid of risk? It seems as though we live in these bubbles of “safety” where we incessantly work to keep things from getting out of hand. I’m not talking about COVID. I’m talking about that job you’ve been looking at that would provide margin. Or that workout routine you’ve been putting off (speaking to myself here). That person you should be asking forgiveness from, or more importantly that person you need to forgive. Maybe it’s a volunteer role you’ve been asked to fill. I haven’t researched it, I may be wrong, but it seems like we have either pulled back due to apathy or we’re trying to control everything. Maybe it’s both. Look at your own life and decide for yourself.
In any case, I fear that I’ll get complacent and avoid risks. I also fear that my kids will take even fewer risks than I would.
Outside of Proverbs and Psalms, I don’t spend much time in the Old Testament. After all, the new stuff is just so good! Sometime last year, I went back and read through Ecclesiastes and loved it. I hadn’t read through it in a very long time. Honestly, I don’t know that I had ever read it all the way through. Nothing brought more questions to my mind than reading the first half of this book. I questioned the very relevance of the Bible itself; it was somewhat nuts!
However, I kept reading and came to chapter 11. It moved me and has turned out to be one of my favorite chapters in the entire Bible. As I read it, I felt the need to paraphrase it or interpret it for my kids. As such, what follows is my feeble interpretation of this chapter.
Take risks throughout your life; you never know where you might succeed.
Expand your knowledge; study many things, and use your gifts. You never know which of these gifts will be useful or which will be employed when it’s needed most.
We cannot control the clouds; rain will fall when and where it pleases. We cannot control the world; what God sets in motion, none can stop. Spend your time simply observing, and you will not live a fulfilling life.
None of us can see the wind or know where each gust will blow, and none of us know how life is formed in the womb. Our minds cannot comprehend God’s work, The Almighty Creator of the Universe.
Start your day intentionally, do not allow yourself to sit still. You don’t know where you’ll succeed, whether in this venture or in that venture or both.
You will never know if you do not try.
Go and do. (And go read Ecclesiastes)
It just so happens that True North Man has just the thing for you to go and do.
October 15-17.
Get out your calendar (yes, I still use a paper calendar), write it down, then register.