For some reason I felt inspired to draw a cone with caution tape yesterday after finishing my prayer time for the Spiritual Exercises.
I honestly think it was just because I saw an orange cone while I was walking… and after I drew it, it needed something extra.
But ever since I drew this image, I’ve been thinking about caution. How important it can be in some circumstances and how limiting it can be in others.
A healthy sense of caution has me trying to think before I speak, particularly regarding issues on which I am not the authority. An perhaps unhealthy sense of caution, however, keeps me from saying anything at all when something, even a flawed something, would be better than nothing.
A healthy sense of caution has me warning my boys against actions that could cause them harm like running across a busy parking lot or trying to climb on a high unstable shelf. A perhaps unhealthy sense of caution has me holding them a little too close so nothing can harm them at all, This means, however, that nothing can challenge them to grow in endurance either.
This morning I’m considering ways that I’m acting with healthy and unhealthy caution in many facets of my life. I’m wondering about when I let fear get in the way of God. That’s why I added this quote to my drawing this morning – to be inspired by the words and the person they are attributed to. I wouldn’t have the job I have today and millions would not have been touched by Ignatian spirituality and Ignatian education if St. Ignatius let fear stand in the way of God.
So my prayer this morning is for the grace to hone my healthy caution skills and let go of some of the unhealthy ones as I work ever closer to the person God is calling me to be. It’s my prayer for you as well.
Happy (Chip) Friday!
