Duc in Altum

In previous posts, Catherine has often talked about the idea of a doorstep mile. We don't even allow ourselves to start things for fear of messing up.

John, Catherine, and I are all in an elective titled The Principles and Practices of Outdoor Leadership, taught by our school's headmaster who is a great outdoorsman himself. We talk about how as outdoor leaders we are called to safely bring others into the outdoors with us. We're called to minimize risk, maximize enjoyment, minimize impact and maximize learning. Though we're going to try to make a video about these four things, today I going to focus on minimizing risk and share a quote that inspired me.

When going into the outdoors we have to do our best to minimize risk but, as hard as we may try, we cannot eliminate it. Nature is always changing and if you think you know everything about it God will show you that you are wrong. But we cannot allow this to stop us! We must keep going! In the words of our headmaster:

I cannot live my life in fear of anything that could go wrong.

We cannot hide ourselves away because we are afraid. God didn't make this world safe but he did make it good (and yes, I did just make a Narnia reference). We are supposed to take advantage of our natural habitat! We are supposed to have dominion over the world and the things in it! We were not created to sit inside a building!

Pope Saint John Paul II said in Novo Millennio Ineunte:

"Duc in altum! These words ring out for us today, and they invite us to remember the past with gratitude, to live the present with enthusiasm and to look forward to the future with confidence"

So go outside! Have adventures! Duc in Altum!

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by Sarah Catherine