Go To The Mountains

I had the privilege of speaking last week at Ambleside’s annual leadership retreat, held in Estes Park, Colorado. I would like to share a condensed version of that speech because I think our whole school community might be blessed by it.

– Cheryl Ward

Most of us came into the Ambleside movement because we were inspired by a captivating idea: that education could be life-giving. My talk today is to discuss living ideas and how to grow that within our communities.

But before I do that, I want to start with the people in this room. This week it has struck me that wherever there are Ambleside school leaders together, there is also a certain amount of pain where they gather.

Leadership carries personal, professional, and community pain. Leadership, particularly high level leadership, is difficult.

But that is also part of its value. If I may quote the great movie A League of Their Own…

No one tells you that — or at least not in a way that you can understand it — until you actually start leading. And the higher you go in leadership, the harder it gets. Exponentially. I would argue that nothing can fully prepare you for high level leadership. You just have to start doing it, and your capacity to navigate the pain will grow.

One of the most difficult things that we will do as Ambleside leaders is to bear the significant pain, anxiety, and grief that comes with bearing the load of an organization. Maintaining attunement under stressful circumstances is hard. Sustaining energy and long term focus is not easy. Humans are complex and fostering good relationships takes work.

The job is filled with joy as well. It is a delight to see students grow; to see parents supported in their role as primary disciplers of their children; to see staff and board members who serve our school well.

But, as with any task worth doing, sometimes the work is tiring. And when that happens, when we stop being captivated by the meaningful work that we do, our work is in danger. How in the world are we to continually inspire our community if we are not inspired ourselves? In those moments, it is very important that we find ways to be refreshed.

My father, who passed away in 2020, had a unique relationship with mountains. Mountains were places that he went to when he was tired or overwhelmed by the needs of his pastoral work. He also went to the mountains when he needed to be alone to pray and reflect on weighty decisions.

It seems fitting that Ambleside chose Estes Park as the location for its annual retreat this year, because this is where we brought my father’s ashes after his passing. We felt it was a fitting place to release and let go.

And of course, God is often associated with mountains in scriptures. Psalm 121 speaks of the mountains as a place of rest, help, and support. Moses went into the mountains to meet with God. Mountains are vast, immovable, and ever-present.

So, it seems that going to the mountains is a helpful phrase to use when someone is feeling tired, discouraged, angry, overwhelmed, or lonely. And it occurs to me that our Calvary community might be feeling some of these things sometimes too.

If so, let me encourage you today to go to the mountains. Go to the mountains when:

• Life’s pressures are demanding, and you need to be refreshed. Go to a place apart from life’s burdens, with people that you love, in God’s creation.
• You are wrestling over a weighty decision. Go to a place where you can be silent and spend a few hours or a few days praying, reading, and reflecting so that God can speak to you about the decision you need to make.
• You have been through an especially difficult time in your life. Go to a place that brings you great joy with people that you love deeply. This will provide refreshment for you as you wrap up a difficult season and prepare to move on into a new season.
• You are grieving a loss and you don’t know how to get past it. Go to a place where you can be alone with God and deposit the ashes with Him. Leave your grief with Him, and let Him transform your loss into acceptance and joy.
• You are feeling lonely in your pain. Go to a place where you can commune with God so that He can minister to you. God is impossibly vast, and He is watching you and waiting for you to come so that He can carry your burdens for you.

Going to the mountains isn’t just conceptual. Here are some practical steps that can help you go to the mountain:

• Set time apart in your day or week to do things that refresh you.
• Be with your people. Spend more time with friends and family, playing games and enjoying meals together.
• Take a vacation, whether that means camping, staying with friends for a few days, or going on a special trip. It doesn’t have to be expensive.
• Put boundaries around your work hours. The work will always be waiting for you. Have reasonable set hours when you are unavailable. You need to rest.
• Get off your device. Put it in another room for the rest of the evening. Turn off the notifications. Get off social media. (It’s known for causing anxiety.) Stop doomscrolling or negative bonding with negative people. There’s a whole beautiful world out there. Go remind yourself that God’s world is filled with beauty.
• Share your burdens with trusted people who can listen and empathize, as well as challenge your assumptions; maybe you’re not seeing things clearly.
• Get counseling. Life is filled with pain and trauma. A good counselor can help you work through it.
• Read books — real books, fiction and non-fiction. Reading helps you move beyond the present and into the world of ideas for a while. Reading will give you new perspectives and remind you that you are part of the whole human existence.
• Do things that are light, refreshing, and restorative especially when the pressure is on.
• Commit to reading, writing, praying, and stretching daily.
• Resentment becomes bitterness much too easily. Take your garbage to God and leave it with Him. Let Him bear it for you and minister to you. And when you make more garbage, take it to Him again. He’s God. It’s a whole mountain. God’s mountain can handle your earthly ashes.

Would you commit to doing one or more of these things today, or in the next weeks or months?

Go to the mountains, friends.