There’s a blessing by The Rev. William Sloane Coffin, that we’ve been hearing at the conclusion of some of our weekend services, that goes like this:
May God give you the grace never to sell yourself short;
Grace to risk something big for something good; and
Grace to remember the world is now
too dangerous for anything but the truth and
too small for anything but love.
I’ve had the privilege recently of witnessing so many different grace-filled people, in so many different ways, “risking something big for something good”, including:
- A middle-aged woman who has always felt comfortable with acts of charity as a way to express her faith risked something big for something good yesterday by going to Annapolis for the first time to engage with state legislators around our BUILD-City-GBC strategy to solve our city’s crisis of vacant and abandoned houses.
- A teenager, who was gregarious and outgoing as a child and/but “not so much” as a middle- and high schooler, risked something big for something good when she tried out for and got a leading role in our youth group musical.
- A young parent risked something big for something good when he accepted a new employment opportunity, which will entail moving and starting over in a new place with his family.
- A person battling cancer risked something big for something good by beginning to walk the journey of surrender, in trust and in faith.
- A person in recovery risked something big for something good by accepting an invitation to share her story of experience, strength and hope with other human beings.
- An individual who has carried anger and grief over things that happened a long time ago risked something big for something good by making an appointment with a therapist.
How about you? Do you know someone who risked something big for something good recently? Or someone who needs just a word or two of encouragement, to try?
Perhaps that person is you …
May God give you the grace never to sell yourself short;
Grace to risk something big for something good; and
Grace to remember the world is now
too dangerous for anything but the truth and
too small for anything but love.