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I Have Not Yet Done Anything

There are moments that define us—that determine what we will do and what we will accomplish with our lives, and often they come when we are at our lowest. Such is the case with one young man on his 31st birthday.

It was August 18, and he found himself in the middle of bitter disappointment. He was a military officer and had been given a heavy responsibility by his superiors. For more than a year and a half he had poured out his soul on the journey to fulfill the trust he was given, only to discover now, in the worst of places, that he could not fulfill the assignment—he could not succeed.

Standing atop a high mountain ridge, he wrote the following in his journal:

“This day I completed my 31st year…and find myself in a situation as uncomfortable as I have ever experienced. Our horses are worn out with fatigue, and we have nothing to subsist on except a few roots.”

He then described the impossible task before him.

“We are new about to penetrate a most dreary and savage country…the mountains are high and rugged—beyond anything I have ever beheld…I could have no conception that mountains so high and rugged existed.”

And then comes the moment we look into his soul…

“I have not yet done anything for the benefit of mankind.”

What defined this young man and catapulted his name deep into history and immortality was this—he went on. He didn’t give in or give up. He went on and did the best he could.

Who was he? Captain Merriwether Lewis—of Lewis and Clark. Where was he? Standing at the top of Lemhi Pass in the Bitterroot Mountains of Idaho. His assignment—given by President Thomas Jefferson, was to find a navigable waterway from the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans. After months of ascending the Missouri River he had expected to climb to the top of the Continental Divide, look down to the west and see a gentle descending slope to the valley below and in the valley would be the mighty Columbia River that would take them on to the sea.

But instead, he saw endless ranges of rugged mountains and no Columbia in sight. It was a moment of bitter disappointment. There was no navigable water route to the Pacific. He and his men were exhausted and starving. If they went on it would be into absolute uncertainty, with no idea what lay before them.

But he did! Captain Lewis went on, as did William Clark and the rest of the Corp of Discovery, and miracles followed. They could not see the way, nor did they know that just beyond them were the Lemhi Shoshones who would save their lives and show them the way.

I repeat again what Lewis said at that discouraging moment,