Taking a Dare
Posted on: July 21, 2014
- In: Everyday Life | Faith
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A Christmas Story ranks among my favourite holiday movies. Fans of this film will remember the scene where one character, Flick, is “triple dog dared” to stick his tongue to a metal pole in the winter—a dare he rashly takes.
We tend to think of dares as foolish suggestions we’d do best to ignore.
Pilgrimage to Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré
However, I recently read Lu Ann Cahn’s I Dare Me: How I Rebooted and Recharged My Life by Doing Something New Every Day, and I love her idea of daring ourselves to try new things so that we get out of a rut, grow as individuals, and find a new zest for life.
What if we applied this to our Christian walk? I’m talking about challenging yourself to do something—however large or small—that’s outside your comfort zone and that you’ve never done before. Here are a few suggestions:
- Invite a friend to church.
- Join the Catholic Women’s League or the Knights of Columbus in your parish.
- Learn to write an icon.
- Start a parish library.
- Launch a Christian fiction book club.
- Take a course in Christian meditation or another course at a Catholic college.
- Join in the diocesan pilgrimage to Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré.
- Share your views on matters of faith (for example, by providing feedback for the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario Human Rights Code Policy Review).
- Prepare to serve as an extraordinary minister of Holy Communion or as a deacon.
Not only do small steps such as these remind us that we need to live out our faith every day and not only on Sundays, but they also give us some practice in sharing our faith.
And we might just find the courage to follow the path God has been leading us toward and to serve him in ways that take us outside that expanded comfort zone.
A Catholic Convert in Ottawa 