“Dear young people, do not be afraid of making decisive choices in life. Have faith; the Lord will not abandon you!”
– Pope Francis
Our family has been celebrating the fourth of July over the past few years in the quaint Jersey Shore town of Stone Harbor. This is the same town where my wife’s family visited while she was growing up. Each year, the town organizes a morning of fun with sandcastle contests, candy scrambles, and a series of different competitions. The past few years we have been spectators of most of these adventures. As the holiday drew near this year, Tricia and I encouraged the kids to at least consider running in the foot race for their age group. The younger two children were all in, but the two teenagers were playing the quintessential “too cool” cards.
As the younger groups lined up and scurried down the 100-meter course to the cheers of the crowd, I continued to cajole the older girls as they rolled their eyes. “I don’t have the right shoes,” said my one daughter. “I can’t run in these shorts,” explained her sister. But then, she confessed what was at the heart of her resistance: “What if I come in last? I’ll look so dumb.” I am not an athletic person and the activity I hate the most is running, but the Holy Spirit or heat stroke prompted me to make an offer they couldn’t refuse. “If you run, I’ll run.” The two girls looked at each other and sprinted toward the starting line. Sure enough, both girls not only finished the race, but both did well, with one even getting a medal.
As I lined up with my age group I had two thoughts. Firstly, I am now suddenly in the age group of men whose primary hair color is gray and for whom the topic of discussion at the starting line is how to avoid injury. Secondly, I couldn’t help but think about all the times in life and leadership I tell or ask people to do something without demonstrating that I am willing to go first, or minimally follow suit. How many more opportunities do I have to encourage people, not by telling them how to do something they already know how to do, but by reassuring them that the potential reward is worth the risk of failure? In the race of faith, how many more people might I get to the starting line if I weren’t afraid of looking foolish?
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