It is risky not to take risk

German mathematician and physicist Albert Einstein was not an anti-persistence crusader; he was just a realist when he said that the definition of insanity is “doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result”. What Einstein meant was simply that you cannot win a war you have always lost with a strategy that caused you to lose the war in the first place. If you have a concern about battles you could have won but lost, something may be wrong with your strategies.

Eleven days ago, we began a journey into September, the first of the four months of EMBER. What that means is that in a little over four months, 2026 will be long gone. If you are reading this, and the needle of progress in a special area of your life has not moved one inch as you desired or planned before the beginning of this year, I’ll ask you: what are you still waiting for? What happened to your big talks about the big and bold dreams you told us you were set to pursue this year? What happened to the business you vowed to start and the relationship you hankered to flag off? What happened to all those lofty ideas that, on paper and on your lips, made you look like the best strategist and thinker that ever walked the face of this earth? Are you looking for a magical opportunity to ride high without taking necessary risks?

 Biblical garroting Goliath would have lived for a long time and tortured God’s people endlessly if little biblical David had not taken the risk to bail out his people from the Philistine annoying anaconda. American history taught us about Frederick Douglass, a Black man born into slavery in Maryland. In 1838, Douglass took an enormous risk: he escaped from slavery. That was a heavy risk.  If captured, he could have been brutally killed or punished and returned to bondage. Nevertheless, disguising himself as a sailor, he travelled north and achieved freedom.  He risked his life to escape slavery, risked recapture by publicly opposing slavery, and risked rejection by speaking truth to powerful people as he used his freedom to fight for the freedom of others. He became an adviser to Abraham Lincoln, who wrote: “If there is no struggle, there is no progress.” Sometimes, the greatest risk in life is refusing to take one. Avoiding every risk may feel safe, but it can lead to missed opportunities, stagnation, and regret. Wisdom does not eliminate risk; it evaluates it, prepares carefully, and moves forward with courage. The Good Book says that whoever watches the wind will not plant; whoever looks at the clouds will not reap. My friends, it is risky not to take risks.

There comes an exasperating season in people’s lives when they may be neck-deep in the fiery furnace of affliction and confusion. That is the season when life does not seem to be working. If you are reading this and you fall into the category of the recumbent who grow cold feet when you should take a risk, understand this fact: the season can eventually flip into a better one only if you change strategy and travel down a different lane ladened with RISK. Everything about seasons of life is spiritual. The cold season has its beats when great things are billed to happen only when you dare them. The hot season also has its accompanying fecundity when things grow. Sowing and planting involves risk-taking. But how do you harvest if you don’t plant?  When seasons change, good vibratos will come alongside bad percussions that we all hear on life’s vibraphones. That is when you know it is risky not to take risks.

I have spoken to hundreds, and sometimes thousands, of people at different gatherings, reminding them of the change in season and charging them to change their ways and strategies if they want life to work better for them. Every change in season is when the Creator is set to make specific changes in the lives of people He created. We are part of the Creator’s projections and plans. Why miss out on this divine largesse? It is why we need to run an introspection and appropriately rework some things that have not worked because of our incognisance and benightedness.

Today’s treatise is not for everybody. It is for those who are called and created to live and not languish as they do so. It is for those who are determined to be the head and not the tail. It is also for those who have procrastinated on changing aspects of their lives that require urgent attention. Men who will remain in invisible chains of life are those who do not know if and when they need a tangible change by taking a swing at risk. The engine of every change process is risk. Picking yourself up from the gruelling gutters of life and launching out into a visible gallery where your gift will make a way for you requires some risks. The world we live in comprises both a life that embraces change and one that cuddles the status quo. The status quo will not bring positive change without risk. It will worsen it. The world’s status quo is a stench like the malodor oozing out of the Dead Sea. A man who fears risks must be ready to cuddle up in romance with chains of slavery.

A fellow was stuck on his rooftop in a flood. He prayed to God for help, fearing he would get stuck on the roof and then be washed off into the raging flood. Soon a man in a rowboat came by, and the fellow shouted to the man on the roof:

“Jump in, I can save you.”

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The stranded fellow shouted back in fear, “No, it’s OK, I’m praying to God, and he is going to save me.” The rowboat went on. Then a motorboat came by. The fellow in the motorboat shouted:

“Jump in, I can save you.”

To this the stranded man said, “No thanks, I’m praying to God, and he is going to save me. I have faith.” The motorboat went on. Then a helicopter came by, and the pilot shouted down, “Grab this rope, and I will lift you to safety.”

To this, the stranded man again replied, “No thanks, I’m praying to God, and he is going to save me. I have faith.” So, the helicopter reluctantly flew away. Soon the water rose above the rooftop, and the man drowned. He went to Heaven. He finally got his chance to discuss this whole situation with God, at which point he exclaimed:

“I had faith in you, but you didn’t save me; you let me drown. I don’t understand why!”

To this, God replied, “I saw your fear when I sent you a rowboat, a motorboat, and a helicopter. What more did you expect? You didn’t want to take the risk?”

Someone reading this may still pray for a change in season when God has already answered with specific instructions about how the answer will manifest. God will help you; but you must play your common-sense part. You may expect a mitigation of life irritation to come one way, but the answer has been scheduled another. God will not change His ways. You need to change yours as the season changes. It is too risky not to take risks.