Before You Know

Before You Know

Looking back, some of the most significant seasons of my life began long before I knew what they would become.

A move.

A conversation.

An opportunity.

A decision.

At the time, none of them looked particularly significant.

They certainly didn’t come with guarantees.

Only later would I discover how they would shape the years that followed.

Looking back over the past thirty years, I’ve noticed that many of the most important transitions in my life shared something in common.

I didn’t know exactly where they would lead.

More often than not, I only knew enough to take the next step.

What seems obvious in hindsight was rarely obvious at the time.

Perhaps that’s what hindsight does.

It edits uncertainty out of the story.

The move that changed everything.

The opportunity that opened a new path.

The conversation that altered a relationship.

Looking back, they can appear inevitable.

They weren’t.

We often want clarity before commitment.

A detailed plan.

A proven path.

Confidence that things will work out.

Sometimes we get those things.

Often we don’t.

More often, we make the best decision we can with the information available and discover its significance later.

Not recklessness.

Not blind optimism.

Just enough clarity to take the next step.

Because some forms of clarity arrive only after commitment.

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