My friend Chelsea and I went on a hike yesterday in Red River Gorge – and let’s just say… we ended up on much more of an adventure than we had bargained for! I’ll have more on that adventure and what exactly happened in another blog post… But first:
The hike involved a series of creek crossings- anywhere from 8 to 16 to 26, depending on who you ask (and how much it’s rained recently). While we were crossing these, at first we were very careful not to get our feet wet – carefully scoping out which rock would hold our weight and wasn’t too deep in the water to sink our shoes. If you’re a hiker, you probably know how annoying it is to hike with wet feet. But before too long – inevitably, one foot will go under water and your efforts will have been futile.
In her book, “Becoming Odyssa,” about a voyage on the Appalachian Trail, Jennifer Pharr Davis calls this the “freedom step.”
“Usually, I would try to rock-hop until one foot slipped and my shoe and sock became soaked, then I would hike in the stream for the rest of the day. The boys called this the ‘freedom step,’ because once your feet were that wet and muddy, you were free to step wherever you liked without further consequence.”
Sometimes in life we have to take a “freedom step” – to get our feet wet, muddy. To enable us to truly begin our journeys. There’s something liberating in that step – you lose your self consciousness in walking, you begin to take bigger risks when taking steps, you find a little freedom in your walk.
That “freedom step” for me was coming clean about my plans for full time mission work and putting in my notice at work. To be honest – I was scared, nervous to tell people about this big step in my life, afraid to get my feet wet. But now that I’ve taken that Freedom Step, it’s to to jump in all the way!
What’s your “Freedom Step” you need to take towards God’s calling in your life?
