Food for Thought: Taking Risks

The 2013 Harvard Business Review notes that fear and uncertainty are the major obstacles to business model innovation. Fear of failure so often prevents us from taking risks that might lead to exciting new outcomes… So, if we’re already making many mistakes, why not risk something that could potentially make a positive difference? Get Smart, Brian Tracy, 2016, p.119 & 123.

If we take a risk, we might get negative results, but if we never take a risk, we can be certain there will be no positive results. I had to rely on that philosophy while trying to help my 87-year-old, wheelchair-bound, sister decide if she should risk having hip-replacement surgery at her age. There certainly were a number of risk factors that caused her to hesitate. However, she knew that if she didn’t take that risk, her quality of life would almost certainly continue to deteriorate.

We talked about the pros and cons, but more importantly, we did our homework, just as we are admonished to do in Proverbs 11:14 to seek wise advice. We consulted the experts––her primary care doctor, a doctor what evaluated the risk factors, and a doctor who does hundreds of hip replacement surgeries every year. They all acknowledged the risks but agreed that if it were their own loved one, they said they would recommend the surgery. She decided to have the surgery.

“Whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother’s womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things. Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let your hands not be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.” Ecclesiastes 11:4-6 In other words, God is in charge, and He has told us to trust Him.

Yes, my sister could have died during surgery, but she knew that even if she did, it was God’s will, and that she would be with Him in heaven. My sister had the surgery and did well afterwards. She realized that her risk had potential rewards either way. She wanted to live, but she trusted God. She prayed that His Will be done.