Why you were made to take risks

 

I believe you and I were made to take risks: long, scary leaps into the unknown.

Risks like: being vulnerable with another person; starting your own business; starting a conversation; believing in the impossible; aiming for a goal that no one said was attainable; moving to a new city; speaking up, and speaking out.

A true risk doesn’t rely on what is known or seen. A true risk overlooks what has been experienced in favor of imagining what could be.

For example, you may not want to start a conversation about a certain subject with a friend, based on how they have negatively reacted in the past. But the risk says, “Take it. Things will go differently this time.”

Or, you may not want to pursue a certain career path, based on your own past failures. But the risk says, “You’re not going to fail this time around.”

The truth is, risks are counterintuitive to human nature.

We like to be safe. We like to be comfortable. We like to know what’s coming next.

We even calculate supposed risks of a decision based on what we already know, not acknowledging that what we know is extremely finite.

For example, we might believe that it’s too risky to leave our current job, without knowing that we might be compelled to leave soon anyway. In the same vein of logic, we might feel there are no other jobs available, not knowing that an ideal position may soon open at a friend’s startup.

So often, we don’t take risks because we miscalculate what could happen. We avoid the unknown, preferring to live small and contained lives that function within the finite limits of our knowledge and perspective.

There’s a beautiful verse in the Psalms that says “He brought me out into a spacious place.” [Psalm 18:19]

If we let Him, God will bring us into a spacious place where we are encouraged to take risks.

We will be encouraged to have bigger dreams …. Push our boundaries of comfort … and do the one thing we never, ever thought we could do.

The truth is, God made us for risk. He made us with bodies that can stretch, get stronger, and withstand pain, and minds and hearts that can withstand more joy and grief than we thought possible.

He made us to take risks—to trust Him while leaping into the unknown.

Because “the known” is an illusion anyway—and if we give Him the chance, He will surprise us with outcomes beyond our wildest desires and most foolish dreams.

And, we might just surprise ourselves in the process.