At a recent Roman Catholic service, the priest related an experience of going to the local laser tag arena. This was his first trip, so he asked one of the teens what he should do to be successful. The teen told him there were three things he needed to do to stay in the game: (1) be ready, (2) keep moving, and (3) take risks.
I thought long and hard on this advice and realized those statements summarize how I have lived my life.
1. Be Prepared. As I look back on my life, I see that every step along my life's journey has prepared me for the next step. All I had to do was show up. When the door shut to my elementary teaching career, I jumped through the open window of cosmetology school. When I realized I was in a dead-end job, I jumped through the window of graduate school. A closed door brought me to the Chaplaincy Institute. I am prepared to walk through doors or jump through windows. I invite you to do the same.
2. Keep Moving. In the last year and a half I have moved from New York State to Chula Vista California, to Berkeley and then back to Chula Vista. Be open to move where and when you are called to move. I'm not suggesting that you move far. Moving for you might be moving furniture into a new configuration in your home. Moving might mean getting off the couch and starting exercising. Moving might mean searching for the spiritual path that satisfies the soul. To me, moving means pushing forward on one's path or life journey, walking around or climbing over obstacles. Many times I have looked at the elephant in the room and thought I couldn't get by it, but eventually I either went around it or told it to “Move out of the way.”
3. Take Risks. I have taken many risks in my life, but the risk of the avocation that I am about to embark on is the greatest one. At times I am overwhelmed with the enormity of the charge I am being given and the vows I have taken. As an interfaith minister, I risk debate with those who do not understand my philosophy or theology. As an interfaith minister I may run the risk of saying or doing the “wrong” thing. But I have signed up to take these risks because the rewards are great: to be an agent of change, to open a closed mind, to change a frown into a smile, to change fear into acceptance, to change despair into hope. With God's help I will take these risks and not be afraid.
I think the teen gave some pretty sound advice to the priest that day—don't you?
Be Prepared, Keep Moving, Take Risks.
May it be so.