Risk & Doing Hard Things
“The testing of your faith
produces perseverance.”
James 1:3 (NIV)
She’s only seven years old. She smiles easily and often, but some important life skills have previously been difficult for her. The youngest of three sisters, she lives in the shadow of her two older sisters. The best thing this little girl has going for her is her perseverance and hard work. She absolutely refuses to quit.
Her wise parents prioritized this summer for developing some of her life skills. Her mom signed her up for swim team to strengthen her swimming proficiency. She’s also reading more library books and taking tumbling and speech lessons. It’s her summer for doing hard things.
Swim team proved to be especially challenging. In the beginning, she struggled to make a single pool lap without reaching for the rope or side of the pool. She cried on the first two days of swim team practice, but she didn’t give up. She kept showing up and swimming early each morning, even in the rain. Slowly, but surely, she got better and swimming became less burden and more delight. As her swimming skills improved, so did her confidence. She realized it and we did too. It showed both in the pool and on her face!
Last weekend she learned to water ski. She had tried and failed on previous occasions, but she was determined to try again. Once up on her skis, her bright smile and thumbs up spoke, “I did it!” without a word being uttered. She risked failure and experienced success.
This summer is also my summer for doing hard things. I’m studying the book of Revelation in preparation to teach the first five chapters for a fall women’s Bible study. I’ve taught women’s studies for over 45 years and avoided the last book of the Canon like the plague. But somewhere last spring I began studying it, praying through it, and showing up to study it. Encouraged by my young granddaughter’s example, I am realizing that bit by bit, I am making progress in understanding the Apostle John’s last letter to Christ’s Church.
We live in a culture that is currently experiencing declining dating, marriage, and child-bearing rates, especially among the Gen Z generation. Anxiety, depression, isolation, and suicide rates among teenagers and young adults have skyrocketed since 2012. Author and social psychologist Jonathan Haidt argues in his best-selling book The Anxious Generation that the mental health crisis we are experiencing is the direct result of the re-wiring of childhood brains. Haidt believes this rewiring has been caused by the development and proliferation of iPhones, technology, and social media platforms. Scrolling and screen time have replaced social interaction with real life and people.
Writing for the Wall Street Journal, Arizona State University student Benjamin Ash writes:
“My generation has suffered from two vicious influences that have undermined our collective elasticity and perseverance, and with that, our willingness to take risks. Overprotected by parents in the physical world and under protected in the virtual one, Generation Z has become ill-equipped to face and overcome crises while suffering from the demobilizing effects of depression and anxiety. Risk-taking comes more naturally to those who spent childhood—when we are most malleable and impressionable—roaming, exploring and resolving conflicts independent of adult intervention. Past generations faced existential challenges, too, yet didn’t become so paralyzed. Reality, however brutal, was inescapable. Unplugging from the toxic, hyper-optimized online world and re-engaging with the mess that is reality would remind us how truly dynamic, durable, and risk-tolerant humanity can be.”
Seth Barnes, founder of Adventures in Missions, agrees writing: “Faith is spelled R-I-S-K. It’s a muscle you build by using it. When you trust a person, you risk that they will let you down. When you trust God, you risk that he won’t come through. There is no version of faith that removes the gamble, because the gamble is the whole point…But there are no adventures in the shallows. Jesus keeps standing out past where our feet can touch, calling people to come to him on the water.”
How risk-averse are you? Where is God calling you to use your faith muscles, take a risk, jump into the deep water, and not be paralyzed by the fear of failure?
“If you want to walk on the water, you have to get out of the boat!” (John Ortberg)