Risk, Change, And Growth

In his very special book, Anam Cara, my favorite Irishman, John O’Donohue, talks about growth and change.

He quotes John Henry Newman, who said, “To grow is to change and to be perfect is to have changed often.” Then John O’ adds this inspiration,

“Change, therefore, need not be threatening; it can in fact bring our lives to perfection. Perfection is not cold completion. Neither is it avoidance of risk and danger in order to keep the soul pure or the conscience unclouded. When you are faithful to the risk and ambivalence of growth, you are engaging your life. The soul loves risk, and it is only through the door of risk that growth can enter.”

As we dream of whatever awaits us, and prepare ourselves for it, let’s be sure to embrace change as the exciting element which holds all the possibilities, and consider risk as the energy that propels us toward those possibilities.