One Boot at a Time

". . . Jesus told them.  I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there', and it would move.  Nothing would be impossible.  Matthew 17.20-21

What’s your mountain?  You know, the thing that’s standing in your path that feels insurmountable! 

A Master’s Program you need to begin?  Finding a new job in a new town?  A pregnancy?  Writing a book?  Caring for a needy loved one?  An autistic child?  A financial crisis?  A health issue?  Forgiveness?  Drug addicted teen?  Loving unconditionally.  Giving up control?

As you stand at its base and gaze upward, its presence is overwhelming and you wonder, “How will I ever get over this monstrosity?  Do I have the energy and the fortitude to even try?  What if I fail?  What if it’s too difficult?  What if . . .

I have a mountain!  Some days (very few I must admit), my mountain seems “manageable” but most days it is my “impossible prayer”.  I have observed something . . . when I focus on the mountain I’m easily overwhelmed by the enormity of it. 

One weekend, I stood gazing at this gargantuan thing  standing in my way and thought, I can’t do this.  What was I thinking?  This is insanity!  I was in the “depths of despair” as Anne of Green Gables would say and I just couldn’t seem to pull myself out of the pit.

A few days later, I was having a conversation with my sister and she shared with me what her son told her while he’s been climbing his own mountain – Army Basic Training. 

“Most people are just hanging on until this is over.  But I’m not looking at it that way.  I ask myself, can I just get through this one hour?  If I can’t get through this one hour than can I just get through this one minute and if I can’t get through this one minute, can I get through this one boot?”


How do you climb a mountain? 

One. Boot. At. A. Time. 

So, simple, yet so profound.

This resonated with me.  I had been doing it all wrong.  I was focused on my mountain, instead of focusing on my God.  I had been thinking I could climb this mountain in one gigantic impossible leap, instead of one boot at a time. 

I don’t have to worry about failing, falling, or fainting because God is with me.  He’s got this mountain!  I still must climb it but my perspective has changed.  I see God, not my mountain and I walk one boot at a time.

Mark Batterson asks (Circle Maker), “Is your dream too big for you?  Well it better be!   Because that’s when you will pray circles around it.  And when you pray circles around it that’s when you begin to see your impossible prayer is nothing for an Almighty God!” 

What’s your mountain?

Fix your eyes on Jesus.  Pray circles around your “mountain”.  And climb one boot at a time.

Kristi