Taking steps forward is often repeating what someone did before you. Climbers step in the steps of others as the safe way to summit Everest. Metaphorically, organizations, communities, and individuals use the same model to reduce the risk of failure. While it is a time-tested model, it is also a model with a predictable ending. Nothing is likely to change. The outcome will be a similar to what others before you have achieved. If your goal is summiting Everest, then the model fits well. On the other hand, if you are looking to jump ahead, the answer will not be found here.
Moving forward is often a variation on taking steps that we have taken in the past. As I listened to a team discussion, I found myself reliving the history of others in the group. I found myself in their old organization, walking the steps we were now taking. The agendas of the past were now becoming ours. Whatever lessons were there for learning had been cast aside with the desire to do what they knew worked.
I have no idea how I should respond.
I know the clichés. I also know that I have taken this course of action more times than I am willing to admit. It is the safe one! I know it works, so why not repeat it? There are two conundrums I keep coming back to. What if I want more? What if I want to step beyond (faster, farther, or wider) the immediate?
There is a harsh reality playing out in this model. Because an element worked it is easy to think that it is good solution. Have I looked beyond to see the downsides? A comment made about the plans of others applies here. “The experts of our day haven’t a clue about what this eternal plan is. If they had, they wouldn’t have killed the Master of the God-designed life on a cross.” (1 Corinthians 2.8)
Can I let Life point me to timeless truth? God is present, willing to guide if I am willing to follow.
