But I'm Only Going To Do It One Time!

You Never Know Until You Try.

Lately I've been thinking about an object lesson I used years ago when I was a daycare teacher in a Christian school. I don't remember the exact Scripture for the day, but the lesson it contained was that doing something just once can have a huge, lasting negative impact on your life as surely as doing something just once can have a huge, lasting positive impact on your life. I thought my illustrations were fitting, even though a couple of people I told about them thought they were a little violent. Maybe they were, but the kids, first through fifth graders, didn't seem to think so, and they were still talking about the lesson several years later. Besides, they all knew that I loved them and would never hurt them in any way. They always practically fell over each other in trying to be my helpers when I asked for volunteers to help with illustrations.

That day was no different. I think I called on fourth-grader M., pointed to the window, and asked, "What if I threw you out that (second story) window?" M. looked suitably shocked, and like many boys his age might, playfully put up his fists to fight, a big grin on his face. I then added, "What's wrong? I'm only going to do it one time!" He responded that he could still break his leg (or his neck) in the fall, and I drove my point home by asking, "So doing something just once can cause trouble?" M. said an emphatic, "Yeah!" I thanked him for his help and asked for the next volunteer.

In total, I called on three students to assist me, and the result was always the same--they loved the illustrations because they were silly things that they knew I'd never do: staple my head or jab a pencil into someone's ear. Each time I seriously stated, face set in earnestness, my "intention" to perform some outrageously ill-advised deed, the class erupted into a chorus of "No!", their facial expressions showing their understanding that performing the proposed action would clearly mean that I'd lost my mind. Each time, I set my face in an expression of confusion and said, holding up one finger, "But I'm only going to do it one time!"

My point most emphatically made, I talked about other activities that were more likely to come up in life, such as being tempted to try drugs, cheating on tests, drinking and driving or riding with someone who has been drinking; you get the idea. And so did my kids.

I think that's a good lesson for all of us. I try to keep it in mind when I'm contemplating something. Though we shouldn't let it paralyze us into inaction, it's something to think about. How will doing this thing, even just one time, affect me? My friends and family? Humankind? Doing something once can have a lasting impact on countless lives. Granted, the terrorists of 9/11 flew into both towers of the World Trade Center, but they only hit each tower once.

I talk a lot about never knowing for sure how something will work out until you try, and while that's true, we have to use common sense. It's one thing to try something that has potential to make our lives, and those of people around us, better; it's another to do something that we know deep down is likely to end in pain and trouble. That's not what God wants for us, anyway.

He wants us to be willing to take a leap of faith and try the big, scary, unknown something that might propel us into a new level of prosperity--be it emotional, spiritual, physical, maybe even financial. He doesn't want us to do something that will visit heartache on us or those around us, maybe for generations to come. Yet not only does He love us enough to let us use the free will He gave us, He's there ready to comfort us and help us pick up the pieces when we make a mess of things. As a smart woman who hasn't always used the smarts God gave me, I'm extremely grateful for that.