Step out?

 

Years ago now, we were visiting my parents in California. It was Robbie’s birthday, and they wanted to buy him a tennis racket. We visited every sporting goods store in the area, including one the size of a big barn where they had an entire wall full of rackets. The choice was overwhelming. Dear Robbie could not make up his mind. In the end, he accepted their gift of money and bought one when we came back to Scotland, where the choice was more limited.

Don and I are wrestling with a choice. It is not an overwhelming choice in terms of lots of different ways we could go. It is just one choice. Do we say yes, step out and commit to something which carries inherent risks, or do we postpone until another time when the risks may have diminished? I’m very aware that we are not getting any younger, and such an opportunity might not present itself again.

I don’t think I ever saw the whole movie, (whose name I don’t remember), but my kids used to enjoy a John Cleese film where a knight was in search of the Holy Grail, and in order to finally reach the cave where it was rumoured to be, he had to step out into seeming nothingness over a deep chasm, trusting that as he stepped, a bridge would materialise and rise up to meet him, and he would cross safely.

That image comes back to me from time to time. When I want to ‘follow the yellow brick road’, a clearly marked path leading to a place of blessing, I instead find myself at the edge of a chasm, challenged to take that first step.

May God bless us all as we navigate the nuances of our lives. May he guide us in our decision-making.