People are different. Some have no problem trying new things. New foods. New recipes. New technology. Others are not quite that bold. They have to be encouraged to try new things. Or, in some cases, coerced. Still others don’t like trying anything new. And if they do, and it doesn’t work out, they will never try it again. Period.
Yesterday I ran across an interesting quote. I believe that it has a lot of merit. The quote is by Virgil Garnett Thomson and goes like this: “Try a thing you haven't done three times. Once, to get over the fear of doing it. Twice, to learn how to do it. And a third time, to figure out whether you like it or not.” Wow. Why didn’t I think of that? Probably because I didn’t try! :)
I’ve gotta tell you, I like the thinking here. Think back to something that you tried once and never did again. Now, I’m not talking about something illegal or dangerous. Rather something exploratory. Like a new food. Or a new sport. Or a new style of clothing. Or a new computer program. Why did we only try it once? Were we pretty sure that we wouldn’t like it in the first place? Or was it that bad? Or were afraid we’d look foolish to others? Or were we too impatient? (New technology falls into this last category for me.) It could be any of these reasons. Whatever the reason, we made a quick decision. No more. Now in some cases, trying whatever it was 100 x’s would still have meant that we wouldn’t have liked it. But in others? I’m not so sure. I guess I’ve lived long enough, at this point, to have changed my mind on a few things. Which only goes to show that my track record isn’t perfect.
Sometimes what we need to do is to give ourselves a chance. We see this with children. They try to do something once and when they fail they convince themselves they can’t do it. Tie their shoes. Open a door. Dress themselves. Drive a car with a manual transmission. But we know that they can do it. All they need to do it to keep on trying. Eventually, with enough practice, they will be able to do it.
Maybe God feels the same way about us. We finally get the courage to teach a Sunday School class. Or work in the nursery for a Sunday. Or witness to a friend. And we bomb. We fumbled our way through the lesson. The children fought and cried the whole time. Our friend went stone silent. So, what do we do? We vow to never, ever do that again! But who knows but that we are missing out on a significant ministry? Who knows but that it will never be that bad again? The answer is that we don’t, unless we try it again.
I like Thomson’s idea of trying things 3 x’s. For the reasons he stated. Maybe we ought to do more of that in ministry. Try it. Get some advice. Some training. Try it again. And a 3rd time. Then see how we feel about it. Of course, for the Christian, the real test of what we should be doing is God. If He tells us that He wants us to be involved in a particular ministry, then we know that we will eventually succeed. Moses did. Gideon did. Jeremiah did. And we can too!
Lord, you know that not all of us are adventurous. Some of us are pretty cautious. And when we do step out in faith and it doesn’t immediately work out, we retreat. Quit. Give up. Help me to be more bold in my service to You. To try new things. New ministries. New ways of doing things. And if it doesn’t work out the first time, help me to try again. And again. Until I know Your will in this area. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Yesterday I ran across an interesting quote. I believe that it has a lot of merit. The quote is by Virgil Garnett Thomson and goes like this: “Try a thing you haven't done three times. Once, to get over the fear of doing it. Twice, to learn how to do it. And a third time, to figure out whether you like it or not.” Wow. Why didn’t I think of that? Probably because I didn’t try! :)
I’ve gotta tell you, I like the thinking here. Think back to something that you tried once and never did again. Now, I’m not talking about something illegal or dangerous. Rather something exploratory. Like a new food. Or a new sport. Or a new style of clothing. Or a new computer program. Why did we only try it once? Were we pretty sure that we wouldn’t like it in the first place? Or was it that bad? Or were afraid we’d look foolish to others? Or were we too impatient? (New technology falls into this last category for me.) It could be any of these reasons. Whatever the reason, we made a quick decision. No more. Now in some cases, trying whatever it was 100 x’s would still have meant that we wouldn’t have liked it. But in others? I’m not so sure. I guess I’ve lived long enough, at this point, to have changed my mind on a few things. Which only goes to show that my track record isn’t perfect.
Sometimes what we need to do is to give ourselves a chance. We see this with children. They try to do something once and when they fail they convince themselves they can’t do it. Tie their shoes. Open a door. Dress themselves. Drive a car with a manual transmission. But we know that they can do it. All they need to do it to keep on trying. Eventually, with enough practice, they will be able to do it.
Maybe God feels the same way about us. We finally get the courage to teach a Sunday School class. Or work in the nursery for a Sunday. Or witness to a friend. And we bomb. We fumbled our way through the lesson. The children fought and cried the whole time. Our friend went stone silent. So, what do we do? We vow to never, ever do that again! But who knows but that we are missing out on a significant ministry? Who knows but that it will never be that bad again? The answer is that we don’t, unless we try it again.
I like Thomson’s idea of trying things 3 x’s. For the reasons he stated. Maybe we ought to do more of that in ministry. Try it. Get some advice. Some training. Try it again. And a 3rd time. Then see how we feel about it. Of course, for the Christian, the real test of what we should be doing is God. If He tells us that He wants us to be involved in a particular ministry, then we know that we will eventually succeed. Moses did. Gideon did. Jeremiah did. And we can too!
Lord, you know that not all of us are adventurous. Some of us are pretty cautious. And when we do step out in faith and it doesn’t immediately work out, we retreat. Quit. Give up. Help me to be more bold in my service to You. To try new things. New ministries. New ways of doing things. And if it doesn’t work out the first time, help me to try again. And again. Until I know Your will in this area. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment