Long before daylight my alarm blares, “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough…” The words of the song strike me as ironic because right now ANY mountain feels too high except the pile of blankets on top of me. I’ve committed to do a 50 mile bike race with my husband. What could I possibly have been thinking?
He’s already up and jumping around the room like a kid on Christmas morning. He flips on the light and begins to gather my gear. He tosses me spandex shorts to replace my comfy pajamas. Again, “WHAT am I thinking?”
All the way to the starting line I imagine everything that could go wrong. I could have a wreck. Get dehydrated. Run into a cow–and I really like cows. So sad. It’s too early for my thoughts to be entirely rational. All I really know is that I feel FEAR. Spine tingling, mind-spinning, I-think-I-will-throw-up-now fear.
I’m doing the race with my fabulous friend named Trish (my awesome husband has signed up for 100 miles–even longer than what I’m doing). Before we begin I make Trish promise to take care of me while I cling to my handle bars like a toddler with a security blanket.
Then we’re off. And something really remarkable happens.
I don’t die.
Instead I pedal.
One mile at a time.
Until we get to the first stop on the route. They have cookies. And suddenly I realize I just might be okay.
So I pedal again.
Then some more.
And before I know it, I’m on the other side of the finish line holding my free hot dog high in victory. {Yes, free food motivates me. I’m kind of like a circus bear that way.}
Later on as I reflect, I realize I should have seen this ending coming. Because over and over I’ve discovered this: Fear is almost always the hardest part. Yep, even the pedaling is easier than the fear.
And pedaling is also the only way to get through the fear. You can’t make it go away ahead of time. There’s only one permanent cure for fear: the finish line.
You have to cross the finish line of your dream, that challenge, the thing you didn’t think you could ever-ever-ever-do.
Let me lean in and whisper to you: you can.
Just pedal.
Then pedal some more.
Find a free cookie somewhere.
Never give up.
You have a big God who lives within you.
And there ain’t no mountain high enough to keep him from getting us through.
