Mountains and Playground Slides

thoughts on doing it scared

Ask me to choose a favorite book, and I’ll get back to you in 3-5 business days.

Ask me to choose a favorite movie?

Sound of Music.

My favorite point in the story is when Maria runs home to the abbey, convinced that her heart’s desires are wrong and she should punish herself for loving the captain.

The Mother Abbess gently says, “These walls weren’t built to shut out problems, Maria. You have to face them. You have to find the life you were born to live.”

This movie was 73-year-old Peggy Wood’s final screen appearance, and her song “Climb Ev’ry Mountain” was dubbed by Margery McKay. (An unsung heroine!)

I’ve tried listening to renditions by younger artists but they don’t hold the same power. Coming from a young voice, the song sounds like a bubble about to burst: idealistic and starry-eyed.

The strength of the lyrics only shines when sung by the Reverend Mother. This is an old woman at peace with herself and the path of her life. She’s telling the young woman in her office to do the scary thing—chase the dream.

It’s rare to see older generations encouraging the young to do differently than the path they chose. Although well-intentioned, typically the approach is, “This worked for me so you should do it too.”

Instead, the Reverend Mother gives us a soaring song telling Maria to climb every mountain, ford every stream, and follow every rainbow until she finds a dream that will need all the love she can give, every day of her life, for as long as she lives.*

For the Mother Abbess, that looked like pouring into the abbey. But she was wise enough to see that Maria’s calling differed from hers.

She told Maria in no uncertain terms to find what she was called to do and then do it scared.

And she meant it, right down to helping Maria down the wedding aisle and saving the von Trapps’ lives.

My boys and I recently visited a playground with a tall, twisting slide. My three-year-old kept trying to slide down and bailing at the last second. “Mama, I want to do it, but I’m too nuh-vus.” After 30 minutes of trying, he timidly slid down with his big brother. I wish you could have seen his grin and those huge, sparkling brown eyes.

“THAT WAS INCWEDIBLE!!!!”

I couldn’t peel him off the slide after that.

I’ve been blogging since 2019 as a book reviewer. It started from a love of good storytelling, and that love is alive and well. Unfortunately, I’m still that mildly-annoying reader who shoves the books I love in my friends’ faces because I JUST WANT YOU TO LOVE THEM, TOO!

Madeleine L’Engle writes in her book, Walking on Water, that:

“Stories are able to help us to become more whole, to become Named. And Naming is one of the impulses behind all art; to give a name to the cosmos we see despite all the chaos.”

So it’s time to start writing some of my own stories.

If I’m honest, I’m as “nuh-vus” as my toddler about putting new words out there. In fact, I’ve spent the last eight months writing some of these letters for you.

But maybe my thoughts will help you feel a little less alone, and give you a bit of courage for the journey.

So this is me, doing it scared.

As Andrew Peterson says in his book Adorning the Dark:

“All you really have is your willingness to fail, coupled with the mountain of evidence that the Maker has never left nor forsaken you.”

We can pursue our callings and dreams faithfully because we are His beloved, and He will never leave nor forsake us. I’m pretty sure the Reverend Mother knew this.

What’s something you’re scared to do today?

Whether it’s starting a new career, being honest with yourself or someone else, asking weighty questions, taking the first step to take care of yourself, or just finding the courage to roll out of bed and face another day, here’s to doing it scared.

Here’s to climbing our own personal mountains a step at a time and giving all the love we have to give.

And who knows? In the words of my toddler, maybe it will be INCWEDIBLE! Not perfect, but infused with the hope that comes from just trying.

What’s one of your mountains today?

*lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II