Can different be delightful?

“No. No. No.”

Amy is certain. She does not want to do it. Others are doing it. Laughing all the while. Having fun and feeling comfortable.

But not Amy.

It is different. Too different for her. She has never done it and it is scary. It is loud; it is unpredictable; it is so...not Amy.

So she stands back and watches. One after one, she sees her friends try it and enjoy.

“No. No. No.”

I ask her once more, thinking this time she will try it. But she stands her ground of refusal. I understand. I stop asking.

Then it happens. The idea of sitting on a balloon to pop it becomes less scary than not trying it.

So Amy says, “I want to.”

We quickly pull a pink balloon out of our plastic bag and hand it to Amy, a 40-something developmentally-disabled woman at Rainbow Omega. She takes it, lays it on the metal chair, and…

Pop!

She has tried different, and different is delightful. 

She walks away, but I continue to see her standing there, at the moment of change, the moment she ventured out to different and popped it into delight. 

I want to be like Amy.

     Lord, when it’s my turn to sit on the balloon, don’t give up asking me. Even when I say, “No. No. No.” 
     Because in time, maybe I’ll work up courage to step away from my “no’s” and plop down on a noisy, unpredictable adventure of “different.”
     Even if it is challenging.
     Even if it is scary.
     Even if it is so...not me.
Delight my heart to say, “I want to venture out—with You.”

* * *

REVISED FROM THE ARCHIVES

2012: My year to…