Where Will It Lead?
You never know where something new might lead
by Brian Radcliffe (revised, originally published in 2012)
Suitable for Whole School (Sec)
Aims
To encourage us to see how new opportunities may arise from seemingly insignificant beginnings.
Preparation and materials
- Have available a few twigs that have buds on them. Alternatively, have available an image of the same and the means to display it. An example is available at: https://tinyurl.com/2ur3v84d
Assembly
- Show the twigs or the image of them.
Announce that you are holding the future.
Pause for effect. - Explain that although they might not look like much, these slim, brown twigs are bursting with opportunity. You need to look closely. If you do, you will see that each one has the beginnings of tiny buds. In a few weeks, these buds will have developed into stems, leaves and flowers.
You can see similar signs of the future in gardens, woods and hedgerows, on roadside verges and even on patches of wasteland. We are in springtime, the season of newness. - New things in nature are always small. A baby rabbit, a puppy or a kitten is tiny when it is born. It’s the same with a human baby. It’s possible to hold a new baby in the curve of your arm. Yet just like the buds on the twig, the potential for the future is astounding.
Every famous person was once a tiny baby. (Name some famous people.) When their parents first saw them, they had no idea what these little bundles of new life would become. - New things are bursting with potential, but it’s not always obvious from the start. New life is also fragile. It would be easy to snap this twig or pull off the buds and obliterate the potential for life that exists there. Similarly, we might feel nervous when holding a new baby because it’s so tiny and vulnerable.
We need to protect new life and give it the time and space that it needs to develop. Each one of us is an example of that. - Newness appears in various forms. Each new day is bursting with opportunities: new people to meet, new information to read or hear, new time that we can fill, new problems that need solving, new needs to address and new places to go.
Each of these is just like this twig. At first, we may not see every implication of an opportunity. The potential benefit, if we were to get involved, may not be obvious until we’ve allowed it to develop, until we’ve invested some time and energy.
One opportunity can often lead to another. If we don’t give our time and energy to the first small, initial opportunity, we may never encounter the second.
However, opportunities don’t last forever. It’s important to take opportunities as they arise, rather than have regrets later.
Time for reflection
During springtime, it’s helpful to take a walk and deliberately look for signs of new life in the natural world. This new life gives us a sense of what’s to come and optimism for the future.
Maybe we could take a similar approach to what happens in our life today. We could look out for opportunities by:
– making a point of saying something to someone we don’t know very well
– exploring what’s on in school and in the local community and joining in
– finding out whether volunteers are needed for any projects
Imagine what the potential of any of these opportunities might be. However, don’t just think about it and then delay acting on it. The opportunity may not come again.
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for the newness of each day.
Thank you for new friends to make and for new time to fill.
Thank you for new activities to get involved in.
May we all fulfil our potential and make the most of the opportunities that we have.
Amen.
Song/music
‘When you believe’ by Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LKaXY4IdZ40 (4.58 minutes long)
