It was seven o’clock in the morning in Lambert St. Louis Airport last winter when I headed, not to my gate, but to the familiar double D branded awning that just opened its doors. Dunkin Donuts is always my #1 priority after a TSA approval. As I waited for my latte at the counter, I turned around and began the second-best part to airport travel – people watching.

Almost immediately, I noticed two nuns in full habit enter the gate across from me. They sat down at a high top charging station and commenced talking between each other. It was then that I felt it – a nudge.

I was traveling alone and knew that the nudge wasn’t coming from an outside source… it was a nudge from within to jump out beyond my comfort zone. It’s in moments like these that I relate to the clown fish in “Finding Nemo.” The father fish, Marlin, teaches his son how to leave the confines of their underwater home by telling him, “First we go out a little then we go back back in a little. And then we go back out, and then back in.” The “out and in” battle was waging as my internal comfort zone. The nudge to “go out” finally won and I found myself standing in front of two fully habited nuns.

I introduced myself to the sisters and asked about their travels, offering to buy them breakfast. They declined, saying that they were waiting for the Burger King to open nearby later that morning. (Sisters with stomaches of steel, I thought!) We chatted for a few minutes and shared a bit of our travels with each other. It was Advent and we were all headed to retreats at opposite ends of the country. We exchanged intentions for prayer before I headed off to find my own gate.

“How cool was that?” I mused as I walked sat on my plane an hour later, “Here I am traveling alone and I’m suddenly a part of other people’s adventures.” Even better – those adventures we were now sharing in a spirit of prayer before the Lord.

It took a nudge – an inward call to step out beyond the invisible wall of comfort vs. daring in order to discover more about the world and the people around me. And this was certainly not the first time I had noticed the nudge. In fact, the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I owed much of the happiness of my life to that nudge.

It was, in fact, the same nudge that prompted me over the years to open my doors to friends and strangers when I was less than “ready” to entertain guests; those moments building some of the strongest friendships I now enjoy.

It was acting on the nudge that landed me a job, an audition, and a raise. Taking the risk and jumping out of my comfort zone meant overcoming the fear of failure. The result? Always moving forward and being able to discover more or lay a question to rest.

The nudge was ever-present in my pro-life job on the sidewalk when counseling women entering the abortion facility. In many situations, this nudge became a giant force of grace to guide women to a place of life-giving support. This kind of nudge, I am sure, was the Holy Spirit.

In my life as a whole, these nudges remind me of a line up of dominos. By itself, a single domino is only a few inches in length, stiff, and thin. But when standing on end and gently nudged, a wave of movement ensues that extends far and wide and at an accelerated speed. This movement is caused simply by a series of nudges – just like the ones that come in our own lives when we dare beyond our comfort zone. And in the end, instead of standing alone, we find ourselves surrounded by others and sharing in each others’ adventures.

So the next time you are hesitant to take a risk, reach out, or jump into the unknown, remember the power of the nudge and the fruits that come when we look outside ourselves and take interest in the world around us. It takes effort and a little bit of daring. And it’s always worth it!

Love, Mary