The Return of Risk

During a trip to Baltimore our visit included a middle school in one of the worst neighborhoods of the city. I noticed a chart on the wall of the principal’s office with three columns: Coping, Well-Being and Agency. “Our students consistently drop out long before graduation and the teen pregnancy rate is triple the state average. That is a progress chart for our students,” the principal explained.

While all three are important, it is the sense of agency – the belief that there is something you can do about your circumstances – that drives so much of everything else. You are not a victim. You can make changes or make the best of what is not ideal. You can take risks. Sadly, the majority of these students and families had lost their sense of agency while becoming fatalistic and passive. So many times their being manipulated by outsiders had only increased their resignation, impotence and smoldering resentment.  

‍No Hope

Because I had been teaching in the book of Ruth, I realized her mother-in-law Naomi faced a similar lack of agency. Life had been one of unusual hardship and disappointment. Uprooted from her home by famine, moving to another country and then losing not only her husband but after 10 years the deaths of her married sons left her with the responsibility of the family. It was then she gave up hope and chose to believe her troubles were the Lord’s hand being raised against her. That became the theme of her life – the Lord had made her days bitter, and there was nothing she could do about it.

People who feel they are victims don’t make plans. They wait for the next wave to wash over them. As long as Naomi was oppressed and as long as she could only say, “The Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me,” she had no hope for the future.

She had no agency in her life. It was not just difficult circumstances faced by others. No, she was up against God. It would have been easy to simply drop out or harden herself against her lot. Paul Simon’s words were hers. “I am a rock. I am an island. And a rock feels no pain. And an island never cries.” That is how she would cope.

But something happens in the middle of the story. Yes, her daughter-in-law Ruth meets Boaz and we can sense Ruth’s future is about to be altered. But it would be easy to overlook the transformation in Naomi. She begins thinking about Ruth’s future more than dwelling on her own bitterness and loss. More importantly, she is even ready to risk yet another disappointment.

‍Regret To Hope

The shift from regret to hope is always pivotal, and the move from resigned self-absorption to taking a chance has long-term consequences. The psychiatrist Karl Menninger once said when asked what he would recommend if a person were caught up in regret and self-absorption: “Lock up your house, go across the railroad tracks, and find someone in need and do something for him.”

We often hear from people who recognize on a mission trip or a service project that their situations are far better than others. They return determined to be more grateful. That is still using other people to comfort ourselves. Simply getting a new perspective on our own situation or comparing our circumstances to others is still self-centered and using other people to make ourselves feel better. Instead, Dr. Menninger was saying the very act of momentary self-forgetfulness in doing something for someone else is often the best medicine in the world. It is simply doing something for someone else with no expectations or benefit. It is an act of genuine charity – not a transaction or investment in ourselves.

One of the common effects of depression is the inability to move purposefully and hopefully into the future. When Naomi awakens to the kindness of God, her dead hope comes alive. The result is her ability to think creatively about Ruth's future. Naomi is no longer the passive and fatalistic actor in the plot. She can do something for someone else. Her ability and openness to risk has returned.

I am in the period of life when it is easy to settle in and think about reducing risk in a number of areas of life. Shift investments to produce stable income. Fix a circle of friends and relationships. Read the news that agrees with my established beliefs and avoid dissenting opinions as troublemakers. Do a little volunteer work to make me feel better about myself. Be safe. Minimize the possibility of disappointment. But, that’s not what God has in mind. It’s always a good time to risk and change. It’s always the right time to look to the future – especially of others – and keep hope alive.

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Art by Thomas Hart Benton

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