Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Don’t Be Afraid To Follow His Call

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you and watch over you. -- Psalm 32:8

The woman agonized over her decision. I tried to be helpful and patient. She sought her mother’s advice. She stood back and gazed at the old wood paintings. After about 20 minutes -- literally -- she finally made her selection. As she walked toward the cashier, I heard her questioning her choice.

I felt sorry for her. I did. How horrible it must be to agonize over something so simple as choosing either a blue fish or an orange fish on an outdoor painting for a friend. She probably second guessed herself for hours. And, really, it wasn’t that important. I can’t imagine how she manages to make life-changing decisions.

Or maybe I can. A dear friend has been agonizing over one of those for almost three months. She’s finally decided but she’s having a hard time letting go. I understand. Leaving a job you like for something more satisfying is a risk. One place is comfortable because you know it and you know what to expect. The other is scary because it’s new.

We’re all about comfortable, aren’t we? Our Sunday school class has been studying John Ortberg’s book, If You Want To Walk On Water, You’ve Got To Get Out of the Boat. This is one of the topics he discusses. We get so comfortable that it’s easy just to stay right in the boat. Then we end up missing so many blessings because we never trusted God enough to follow His call.

Indecision is all about fear. Procrastination is all about fear. Busyness is all about fear. We don’t want to make a decision, a choice, to leave our comfortable place because we’re afraid that walking on water might not be all we thought it would be. But we’ll never know unless we try.

And, sometimes, fail. We don’t want to fail. Nobody does. But everybody fails at some point. Some of us manage to do it spectacularly. Others fail slowly by bits and pieces. But we all fail at something.

The key then is to learn and grow from the experience. God promises to use it if we’ll let Him. Then we can gather ourselves together and try again -- only this time with the lessons that we’ve learned. That’s the difference between those who succeed and those who don’t. Those who succeed learn from their failures. Those who don’t end up letting their failures define their entire lives.

Don’t keep waiting for a certainty that will never come. Nothing is guaranteed in this life except that God will be with you through the journey. So take His hand and take a chance. Get out of the boat and follow His calling on your life.