Last Lesson of the Summit: DREAM AND RISK!

I don’t know when I have been so scared. Nervously I walked to my guitar and said, “I’m going to end our time together by singing you a little song.”

This started last weekend at the Summit in Nashville. When we were asked to list assets, we were also encouraged to put down unusual talents we might have. Skills we wouldn’t necessarily connect with our speaking lives.

I put down “silly songs.” It’s more like a party trick. For years I have played my guitar and sang a song I’d written about someone. Most of the time the occasion is celebrate a birthday or anniversary, something like that. I don’t sing really well nor do I play the guitar excellently, but I can put the two together and entertain.

At the summit, both Ken and Danny encouraged me to take a risk and use this “talent” in my speaking. At the time I thought “Why not?” So I made plans to sing last night at the MOPS group I spoke to.

Over the course of the week, my courage drained. I just knew that I would be laughed at, and not in a good way, or even worse, silence would meet the end of my song. I worked myself up into a lather worrying about how this risk would play out.

At the Professional Communicators Summit, God did some big time work in my heart. And He sent His own personal confirmer to help interpret and encourage what I was hearing. My sister Karen met me in Nashville last weekend to visit and play with me when I wasn’t in the conference. As I voiced what I was hearing from Jesus, the big dreams I was envisioning, my sister prayed and cheered me on. What a gift to have her there. At the end of the conference she shared with me a picture of she received while praying for me.

“Rob, it’s like you are going to start climbing a rope. And as you go, you’re going to encounter these huge knots in the rope. But don’t be scared of them. Use them to grab hold of and then step on to propel you higher in your climb.”

My first knot? This silly song. This morning it seems like nothing, but the last few days I felt as if I was going to go into a room and completely humiliate myself. Not a moment I looked forward to.

So the last lesson of the summit? Dream and Risk. Dream and Risk. And then Dream and Risk some more.

Can I encourage you to dream and risk, too? Just do it and walk through your fear. Climb that rope and use the knots!

And by the way, the song last night? It was a big hit. The MOPS group of thirty women all laughed at the right places, cheered and clapped at the end.

Whew! Thank you Ken and Danny and Curtis! Thank you Professional Communicators Summit! If you are interested in getting more information on attending this yourself go to http://www.dynamiccommunicators.com/