23 A person’s steps are made secure by the Lord
when they delight in his way.
24 Though they trip up, they won’t be thrown down,
because the Lord holds their hand.
Reflection
This question really had me go in a lot of different directions. My first thought was, “Well, I tried a new pizza place on my way home the other day.” It’s always a little intimidating to me to walk into a small local place by myself. It ended up being fine, but they didn’t have slices like I thought so I ordered a whole pie but went out to my car to wait because it was one of those nice days. Well, the pizza wasn’t so great, so I won’t need to go back.
I thought of other new things I have tried – why do we remember the things that weren’t that great so much easier than the things that worked out well? I think because we are afraid of failure, we are reluctant to try new things. There are other simpler reasons too. We may have a favorite food at a certain place, and we don’t want to miss having it if we try something new. We don’t want to embarrass ourselves if we go to a knitting class and just can’t seem to get it (I made some terrible friendship bracelets when I was supposed to be making a square). We are not sure we can go on a mission trip because we might not have the skills to build or to even communicate appropriately about the gospel to others. None of these things by themselves seem like they could be enough to change our lives, but they certainly could! You could take a knitting class, decide you love it, and join the group that knits prayer shawls at church, or you could make hats and mittens for the unhoused and find the purpose you had been looking for, or it could lead to an online store. Who knows? (That won’t happen for me, but if it does for you, I would love that!)
When I googled “why is it important to try new things?” a Psychology Today article popped up entitled “Doing Something New Is Good for You.” The article talks about how if we are in too much of a routine, we don’t have to think much. That may seem like a good thing, but it actually allows us to turn off parts of our brain, which of course is not a good thing. If we try something new, it wakes up our brain, and helps us build flexible thinking, which means we can see different perspectives on things, and this is important for building relationships and solving problems. Isn’t that what we need today -in the church and in the world? Maybe seeing a new perspective can help us build that confidence to step out and do something within or outside of the church that we may not have tried before to help further the Kin-dom. It can also help to improve our mood and boost dopamine release – which we could probably all use a little more of right now.
by Janet Waryck
For Pondering and Prayer
What have you been wanting to try? A new food, a new hobby, a devotion, a church activity/ mission/ outreach? What is holding you back from doing that? As Joe said a couple of weeks ago, “What would you do if you knew you couldn’t fail?” We know that failure can be a possibility, but as our scripture points out, God will be holding our hand no matter what we do! So, what is it you will try today or plan to try soon?
Prayer: Dear Lord, who holds our hand, help us to feel you walking beside us in all we do. Help us to step out in faith to try a new thing – small as it may seem – to help build your Kin-dom here on earth and to help us get closer to you. Amen.
