Life is a Risk

As we near the beautiful season of Advent, we have been reminded over the past few weeks about the end times.  This season of Advent is meant to ready us for not only the coming of our Savior, but also reminds us that Jesus will return as he promised; the second coming.  We will hear from John the Baptist, the one crying out in the desert, attesting to the coming of the Messiah.  The one whose sandals I am not worthy to untie.  We also are reminded that we are given charisms, gifts in life to be used for our own good, but more importantly for the good of our neighbor.

Just as we receive unique talents in life, we are also called to use these talents.  Be the one today who calls out, witnesses to the truth, that is the mission we all have been called to.  We are all called to use those special talents.  We all have been blessed for the betterment of the Kingdom, not bury those talents, afraid to take risk, because risk means failure.

There is a beautiful saying by an anonymous author who wrote the following “When you take risks you learn that there will be times when you succeed and there will be times when you fail, and both are equally important.”  Rarely does that person invent something new, without first having failed many many times.  Thomas Edison himself said, “he has not failed, he just knows 10,000 ways that it will not work.”

Just as Saint Augustine reminds us that we are made for God, he is our destination and the very reason why each of us is unique.  God knew us when he made us, because he made us for himself.

So life does remain a risk.  Everything we do in life involves some form of risk, but risk must be taken.  The greatest risk in life is to do nothing with your God-given talents and bury them in fear.  For the one who does nothing in life, really does nothing in life.