When I was about 15 years old, our school grade travelled up from Adelaide for a week's stay in the South Australian, Flinders Ranges. The highlight of our week was to be a climb to the top of the highest point in the Ranges, St. Mary's Peak.
I was worried leading up to the day we were to make the climb. I was very skinny back then, and not particularly strong. I was afraid that I might embarrass myself in front of all the other students by being too weak to make it to the top of the mountain.
The teachers took us to a hill near our camp on the day before the climb, as a kind of practice. I remember making it only part of the way up before I sat down, puffing, exhausted, and feeling pretty hopeless about my prospects.
The next day, the climb up St. Mary's began with a gentle walk for the first few kilometres. We were in single file, and I was already struggling. I was about two thirds of the way back in the line of students and teachers; it was looking as if I would not get very far. Not wanting to fail so badly, I put on a big burst of strength in order to pass all of the people in front of me, until I reached the front of the line.
Eventually, of over 350 people, I was one of only nine to reach the top of the mountain, and was the only girl or woman to get there.
It was good to stand on the peak and spend some moments enjoying the view. It was wonderful to know that I had achieved the goal, and had not dropped out along the way. Surprising that so many had. More than that though, I learned a lesson that has helped me out many times since.
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Being at the front of the line made all the difference to me. Why? It just seemed easier when I could see the goal ahead clearly. I also wasn't travelling back in a pack of people who weren't as committed to completing the climb. Most of all, by expecting more of myself, (as a trailblazer at the front of the line), it actually became easier to succeed than it would have been to fail.
I was reminded of this experience some years later, when I read a story called, 'The Five Dollar Lawn', as retold by Bishop Vaughn J. Featherstone in Conference, 1973. (You can read the story here.)
I love that story. It underlines the thought that we should expect more from ourselves - should sometimes expect the impossible, if we hope to succeed at the really difficult tasks; that failure comes from setting our sights too low instead of from aiming too high.
A Sunday School class member questioned whether aiming for perfection is just too daunting for some. I think that not aiming for perfection is much more so. We are children of God, and eventual perfection is our true and natural endowment - we're not going to feel truly happy with anything less - and I think that that's a more daunting thought!
In all sorts of applications, I believe that we generally need to expect more of ourselves, not less.
By Sandy Munro
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