Being Safe in the Wild

I took my kids out recently on a late afternoon walk one Saturday. We’d been indoors all day, and crisp autumn air was calling to me. Forgetting that daylight savings had recently occurred, I miscalculated how much light we’d actually have. (My kids were really great at pointing out my mistake. I just told them it was now an adventure they’d never forget.)

We headed to the Peaks, about a 30 minute drive from where we live, and walked up one of our favourite paths with huge boulders and cliffs to climb over. It had been a looooong day, but just walking along those mammoth stones felt like a wondrously needed shock to my system. My heartbeat picked up. A smile now crossed my face that had somehow been lost. And the dreaming part of me began to bubble up inside.

One of my daughters caught a blurry-just-before-dusk photo of me in my happy place.

This picture reminded me of something I’d read a few days earlier.

I’d been reading a book called Ezekiel, where a group of nomadic travellers are given the promise that the land they are heading into will be rid of enemies and dangerous animals - and that they’d even be able to “camp safely in the wild places”.

Strange phrase to give me warm fuzzies.

It got me thinking though….Is it possible that the safest place for me to “camp out” is the place where bravery and calling collide? Because what beckons to me from that place is RISK.

Don’t get me wrong. There are dumb risks, and then there are great risks.

Dumb risks don’t take others into account, or are done on an impulse without thinking through the repercussions.

Greats risks are when we have to be brave and step out of the boat, because there’s a grand adventure waiting for us on the other side of the bow.

Dumb risks put my life in danger for the sake of a thrill.

Great risks may cost me a lot, but the sacrifice has been pondered and weighed, and yet I still take the plunge.

Dumb risks are often all about me.

Great risks rally a supportive team around me. We’re in it together somehow.

To put this another way: When we are doing what we were created to do, the greatest risk can feel like the safest place.

And those risks may involve every part of your heart, your soul, your mind and your strength. They involve others who will believe in your dream even more than you do. They involve the willingness on your part to pioneer, yes to even camp in the wild places.

Our souls feel alive when we are doing what we love. So what do you love? What is your sweet spot? What brings you energy rather than depletes you? And are you making room for that place to grow?

I want to encourage you to risk bravely and begin to live out that longing, alongside of a community that will support you in your journey.