Taking Chances

The past four years of my life have been unbelievably adventuresome. Filled to the brim with uncharted territory, I have spent these past years as a wanderer within my own life. Moving into new apartments....moving to a new cities....moving to new states and even new countries and cultures. Now, as I sit comfortably under my parents' roof, where I currently call home, I wonder about the chances that I took to get to this place and the serendipity that connects them all.

I took my first chance when I moved to St. Louis for graduate school. Without fully knowing what Occupational Therapy was or where St. Louis is on a map (don't worry - I eventually figured it out), I packed my belongings and moved south to a city I barely knew. Wrapped in anticipation and opportunity, and laced with a bit of heartbreak - I have come to realize that I was born in that city. It was in that city where my dream of finding hope for the hopeless was conceived and where the roots of my love for orphaned children with disabilities began to grow. They say that the St. Louis Arch represents The Gateway to the West....but to me it means so much more. It's the gateway that led to all of the experiences that helped to shape who I am and what I stand for.

I've been thinking a lot lately about taking chances. Now that my time in St. Louis has come and gone, I realize that it was just one of the many chances that I will have to take. I will have many more moves to make and risks to put on the line. What takes me past the fear of the unknown, however, is the truth found in the grace of Christ. It is His name that I will cling to each and every time I take a chance.

It seems there is a bit of risk in everything these days. Risk in your professional choices. Risk in your personal choices. Risk in letting yourself be vulnerable with another. But at the end of the day, taking chances is really just about overcoming fear of the unknown and stepping forward in blind faith. Sometimes it's frightening and most of the time it's hard....but every time you take a big risk in your life I think you'll find that, no matter how it ends up, you're always glad you took it.