To be honest, this page scares me. The thought of stepping out of my comfort zone, doing something new, and taking a step that could lead to failure is scary. But, nothing ventured, nothing gained. It think that is how the quote goes. Why do I stall and get stuck in the moment right before I jump? One summer I was at family camp at Black Lake. Three of us moms decided to climb the ladder to the platform and jump to the "blob" below. It was a huge pillow looking thing that floated on the water and caught you when you jumped. Now the platform didn't seem so high until you were on top of it. The problem came when I volunteered to go first. I went to the edge of the platform and counted, 1, 2, 3 and ..... nothing happened. I could not make my legs move. I was terrified of jumping. The whole idea sounds relatively harmless and kids had been doing it all day but I might as well have been jumping out of a plane thousands of feet up in the air for how I felt at that moment. OK, I swallowed hard and counted again, 1, 2, 3... still nothing. I had my arms swinging this time hoping the momentum would move me over the edge but no deal. About that time I took a moment to look around. All the people on the beach and those in boats on the water had their eyes focused right on me. OK, now that changes things. Pride was on the line now. There was no way I was not going to jump this time. 1, 2, 3 and off I went. I hit that pillow and proceeded to roll right into the water. I apparently had not landed in the center and so I rolled right off the side into the lake. At that point my faithful companions who were at the top of the ladder preceded to climb right back down. They had seen enough and decided they weren't going to jump. Maybe I didn't succeed with my initial goal of landing in the middle of that blob but I jumped. I jumped and that was success enough for me. Sometimes it takes jumping to figure out what works and what doesn't. Sometimes we do it in front of lots of people who are watching but not jumping themselves. And sometimes you don't succeed the first time and need to try it again with the lessons you learned. It reminds me of Peter and that he was the only one who got out of the boat and walked on water towards Jesus. Yes, he may have been seen as a failure for not keeping his eyes on Jesus but I bet if he got the chance to do it again, he would. Our failures teach us valuable lessons and some would say they are not failures at all just part of the process. So, get out of the boat, jump, get your feet wet and move towards where you see Jesus leading.
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Get Your Feet Wet
To be honest, this page scares me. The thought of stepping out of my comfort zone, doing something new, and taking a step that could lead to failure is scary. But, nothing ventured, nothing gained. It think that is how the quote goes. Why do I stall and get stuck in the moment right before I jump? One summer I was at family camp at Black Lake. Three of us moms decided to climb the ladder to the platform and jump to the "blob" below. It was a huge pillow looking thing that floated on the water and caught you when you jumped. Now the platform didn't seem so high until you were on top of it. The problem came when I volunteered to go first. I went to the edge of the platform and counted, 1, 2, 3 and ..... nothing happened. I could not make my legs move. I was terrified of jumping. The whole idea sounds relatively harmless and kids had been doing it all day but I might as well have been jumping out of a plane thousands of feet up in the air for how I felt at that moment. OK, I swallowed hard and counted again, 1, 2, 3... still nothing. I had my arms swinging this time hoping the momentum would move me over the edge but no deal. About that time I took a moment to look around. All the people on the beach and those in boats on the water had their eyes focused right on me. OK, now that changes things. Pride was on the line now. There was no way I was not going to jump this time. 1, 2, 3 and off I went. I hit that pillow and proceeded to roll right into the water. I apparently had not landed in the center and so I rolled right off the side into the lake. At that point my faithful companions who were at the top of the ladder preceded to climb right back down. They had seen enough and decided they weren't going to jump. Maybe I didn't succeed with my initial goal of landing in the middle of that blob but I jumped. I jumped and that was success enough for me. Sometimes it takes jumping to figure out what works and what doesn't. Sometimes we do it in front of lots of people who are watching but not jumping themselves. And sometimes you don't succeed the first time and need to try it again with the lessons you learned. It reminds me of Peter and that he was the only one who got out of the boat and walked on water towards Jesus. Yes, he may have been seen as a failure for not keeping his eyes on Jesus but I bet if he got the chance to do it again, he would. Our failures teach us valuable lessons and some would say they are not failures at all just part of the process. So, get out of the boat, jump, get your feet wet and move towards where you see Jesus leading.
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