And we get to climb it. Who’s climbing it with you?
Adventure: daring and exciting activity calling for enterprise and enthusiasm.
Enterprise: a project or undertaking, typically one that is difficult or requires effort.
Lately, I’ve thought a lot about dreams and pursuing ambitions and how that relates to climbing mountains.
For many years, I had the desire to hike a fourteener (mountains over 14,000 ft.), and I knew I shouldn’t go alone. I had athletic friends I could’ve asked, but I saw myself as a liability: slow; needing lots of breaks; emotional when physically and emotionally taxed. And what if I started and couldn’t finish? I’d keep my friend from reaching the summit.
All these doubts vanished when I met my husband. Nothing about me had changed—I was still slow and had the potential to cry when it got tough—but I knew he’d understand. No matter what happened, I knew he’d be right beside me the entire way.
The most memorable part of hiking our first fourteener together was having him turn around and offer his hand to help me up the next strenuous step. He did this repeatedly—as often as I needed—until we reached the top.
With dreams and ambitions, adventure and enterprise, I often need other people to encourage me to start… and to keep going. I need that outside perspective. Someone who has more faith in me and my abilities than I do. Someone who believes I can accomplish great things.
This has never been clearer than with my writing. Just when I’m ready to quit, God seems to place a person on my path to ask how the writing’s going. That question reminds me I’m not alone. But just like hiking a fourteener, I would’ve never even started if it weren’t for my husband.
He’s the one who noticed how passionate I was about the writing and saw a future filled with joy and satisfaction if I seriously pursued the craft. He encouraged me to give up my job security to pursue a dream with no guarantees. He even wrote me a contract!
That contract is like his offered hand while we hiked. I pull it out whenever I’m tired and overwhelmed and wondering why in the world I thought I could write a novel. As I reread it, I feel his firm grip around my hand. And the next step is easier to take.
Who’s climbing life’s mountain with you?
I understand not everyone has a supportive person by their side, and if that’s you, I want you to know that I’ll be that person. This is me offering my hand.
And, best of all, Jesus wants to be that person for you—for all of us! He is our most faithful companion and our most exuberant supporter on this journey.