A little more poetic

To sinful patterns of behaviour that never get confronted or and changed,
Abilities and gifts the never get cultivated and deployed-
Until weeks become months
And months turn into years
And one day you're looking back on a life of
Deep intimate gut wrenchingly honest conversations you never had;
Great bold prayers you never prayed,
Exhilarating risks you never took,
Sacrificial gifts you never offered,
Lives you never touched,
And you're sitting in a recliner with a shriveled soul.
And forgotten dreams,
And you realise there was a world of desperate need,
And a great God calling you to be part of something bigger than yourself -
You see the person you could have become but did not;
You never followed your calling.
You never got out of the boat.

Let us not be those who never risk but those who are the first to climb over the side.

Not quite Agincourt, but.....(something meaningful for once)

To laugh is to risk appearing a fool,
To weep is to risk appearing sentimental
To reach out to another is to risk involvement,
To expose feelings is to risk exposing your true self
To place your ideas and dreams before a crowd is to risk their loss
To love is to risk not being loved in return,
To hope is to risk despair,
To try is to risk to failure.
But risks must be taken because the greatest hazard in life is to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing is nothing.
He may avoid suffering and sorrow,
But he cannot learn, feel, change, grow or live.
Chained by his servitude he is a slave who has forfeited all freedom.
Only a person who risks is free.



So, the man (or woman) who does not risk, is not free. The man who lets his actions be determined by uncertanties that the future may or may not hold, is not free. He is controlled by the future.

Jesus said: "So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' 32For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. (Matthew 6: 31-34)

Blaise Pascal:

“The present is never our goal: the past and present are our means: the future alone is our goal. Thus, we never live but we hope to live; and always hoping to be happy, it is inevitable that we will never be so.

So it is my hope and prayer that I never live my life bound by 'what if's'; that I live in the 'now' using whatever God has given me and the time He has allowed.

Let us be the people who risk and are free.