Leap of Faith

My husband and I have owned and operated our own business for just over two years. With the beginning of a new year, we sat down and decided we're at a turning point in this adventure.  We're where we can do quite well, if we only knew where to go from here.

We've had advice from others who have had successful businesses and were told to 'prime the pump.'  Think of walking out to an old-fashioned water pump, pouring some water down into it to fill any air spaces with water and start pumping hard until you get water from the well flowing back up the pump again. That is 'priming the pump'.  Basically, you're putting good old leg work to use and hitting the pavement, finding referrals, networking with friends, and selling yourself and your business.

We can tell you, there is only so far this can go.  That is where we found ourselves this January.  Then, we went to a business retreat that changed our way of thinking. Yes, there is some priming of the pump.  But there are other things that should be done before and after the priming.

To me, it's just like living with MS or anything else hard in life.  People are always willing to give you advice on what 'they' think will work or what worked for them in their situation.  But until they have walked in your shoes or have lived in a situation very similar to yours, they'll never know what advice you'll need.  You can take bits and pieces from it and use parts of it, but it'll never give you the whole picture.

That's what happened to for us; we got the whole picture.  Just as I have learned over the past sixteen and half years of having MS, Rick and I learned through this weekend. We would need to read, study, go to seminars and workshops.  And then, we'd need to do with all of that information what I'll call the 'Leap of Faith.'

This is where we, or you, just jump into the dark abyss of the unknown and move on. I remember as a little girl I heard this story in Sunday School:  A little girl brought her dad's lunch to him while he worked deep in a well.  Although she couldn't see him down in the darkness, when she called to him he answered her, so she knew he was there.  Her dad asked her to drop the lunch box down the hole, and he would catch it.  In a few minutes, he called back there was too much lunch for just him and wanted to know if she would like to share it with him.  "Jump.  And I will catch you."  he said. "You can't see me, but I can see you.  I won't let you fall."  So she jumped into the dark well and landed safely in her dad's strong arms.

That is a leap of faith.  That's what we all need to do--jump into the darkness. Whether it's with a job, an unknown treatment, a new move or a new adventure.  No matter what's in our lives that's holding us back from growing, we need to be brave enough to move forward.  If we don't, we're growing stagnate. Eventually, we'll mold and decay and die.

It is scary.  I know that from experience.  You also know from my previous posts, I never do anything without thought, study, much prayer and contemplation. But there comes a time, when I know the answer and have to take the plunge.

At the retreat, I was talking to a new-found friend and compared this leap to a time when I was about thirteen.  There was a 13' high, diving board I used to jump off of.  I was brave going up but looking down was terrifying.  There was no going back though with all the kids on the ladder waiting their turn and yelling at you to go. A kid just had to take the plunge.  So, I take the step off (or leap or cannonball or what have you), and it's a fast fall to the water below.  But when it is over, what a ride it was!

And so our ride will be.  Through life with the trials of children, moving, jobs, and illness, we will be less like to weaken and wither if we take the Leap of Faith and give it our best shot; knowing that no matter what, at the bottom of our well is family, friends, and our Spiritual Guide to catch us.