What if I fail?
That’s one of the most frequent questions I hear when it comes to living a life of risk and audacious faith.
What if it doesn’t work?
What if I take this big step of faith and it doesn’t land?
What if I set a huge goal and I fall short?
What if I take the plunge and drown.
I’m not going to lie to you, it’s possible. Otherwise it wouldn’t be a risk.
I can’t offer you certainty. I can’t tell you that it’s going to work. That your step is going to land. That your goal is going to be met. That you aren’t going to drown in your attempt to launch out in faith.
What I can offer you is the perspective that’s helped me.
Personally, if I’m going to drown, I want to drown in deep water. When taking a risk, if I’m going to go down, and I may, at least I want to be in deep water when I do it.
It’s embarrassing for an adult to drown in a kiddy pool. Or be standing ankle deep in it thinking he’s doing something commendable.
There’s a greater risk than taking a risk and failing. And that’s taking none and failing. And maybe even worse, taking none and succeeding.
The greatest risk you can take in your life is to risk nothing with your life.
To live life in the kiddy pool. To live a safe life.
Because then if you fail, it’s embarrassing.
And if you succeed, it’s insulting to a God who had much bigger things in mind for your life.
Failure is a possibility no matter what you do. So is success.
I just know where I don’t want to be when either one happens…the kiddy pool.
(Resource of the Day: For a related blog post that talks about what gives us the faith to take risks for God, check out Well, What If?)
