R is for Risk

Wouldn’t it be silly for someone to build a ship and then keep it tied up in the harbor? Many people could see it and think, wow, that’s one beau­tiful ship! Day after day it could sit there, tied to the dock, never ven­turing out into the water. It could stay that way forever…safe and sound…but what would be the point? The ship’s cap­tain would never dis­cover how well it nav­i­gated the waters; would never know it’s real capa­bil­i­ties; would never know to extent of its features.

And that would be a total waste of a good ship.

Aren’t we like that some­times? Don’t we think it better to play it safe and never take a risk? After all.…

If we try some­thing new, we might fail.
If we for­give someone, we may appear weak.
If we admit our hopes and dreams, we may be dis­ap­pointed.
If we take the chance on loving someone, we might get our heart broken.
If we reach out to someone else in need, we may be expected to stay involved.

Sometimes it’s just easier to tie our­selves safely to a dock and never ven­ture into uncharted waters. But, when we pass up things with sig­nif­i­cant poten­tial up-sides, we miss out on amazing oppor­tu­ni­ties. What we learn from our fail­ures is some­times more ben­e­fi­cial than what we gain from our successes.

However, not all risks are cre­ated equal. Some risks are just plain stupid, and we would be wise to second-guess those deci­sions before it’s too late. But let’s face it, life is full of risks. Pretty much every­thing worth­while in life is a risk. If we don’t take them occa­sion­ally, we’re just like that beau­tiful ship sit­ting in the harbor, wasting away without any pur­pose in life.

The person who risks nothing, gets nothing in return.

Linking up with ABC Wednesday

you may also like…

• Z is for Zen
• The Value of Time
• S is for Sacred…and Secular
• Q is for Quiet
• P is for Pride