How many times do you and I have great intentions for a new project around our house or at work but never get to it? How many times do you and I have a great idea and it never goes farther than our head or scribbles in a notebook or a causal mention to a friend? Such goodness in us goes to waste. We never do this week's word, start.
Start: To begin a movement, activity, or undertaking.
I have a friend who travels almost constantly both for work and fun. When we catch up, she always tells me about her next trip (even if she just got back from one). Recently, she hiked Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania—the highest mountain in Africa and the highest freestanding mountain in the world at over 19,000 feet above sea level. (So, no small thing! I was in awe.)
When I asked her how the hike began told me: “Our guide gathered us at midnight.” I quickly asked "Why? Why would you start such a climb in the middle of the night? Wouldn't you be so exhausted?"
She replied: “Our guide told us this, ‘because it’s one of the world’s steepest mountains, we needed to start at night because if we started this hard journey when we could SEE the steep mountain, we probably wouldn't start."
Well then.
In the same way, you do not know where life is taking you on this grand adventure called your time on planet Earth. And, like this guide said, I too, think it’s best I don’t know the full story (even if some days I wish I could). And so if we feel moved to start something new, we should "Just do it!"
Barbara Brown Taylor in one of my favorite books, Learning to Walk in the Dark says this about the start of a new journey: “...new life starts in the dark. Whether it is a seed in the ground, a baby in the womb, or Jesus in the tomb, it starts in the dark.”
The dark, I believe, can be a sacred place for you to just begin. Not to make a big fuss about it. Not to draw attention to yourselves (i.e. calling 10 friends to say you just did___). But taking a baby step. Then another.
So, how are you going to start your climb this week?
XO
Elizabeth
