I came across a little quote recently, one of those lines that isn’t particularly noticeable initially, but one that once you notice, you can’t get it out of your head:
Maybe the path that scares you the most is the one you need to take.
Joseph Campbell
It’s not one of Campbell’s famous sayings, but it is one that carries great truth.
We often assume fear means “don’t.” – Don’t try. Don’t risk. Don’t step out.
But what if fear is sometimes a signpost instead of a barrier? What if it’s pointing toward something meaningful, something stretching, something holy, rather than warning us away?
Think of the moments in your life when you’ve grown the most. They probably weren’t the moments that felt safe or predictable. They were the moments when your heart beat a little faster, when you weren’t sure you were ready, when you stepped forward anyway.
That’s the territory this quote invites us into: the sacred space where courage and calling meet.
Scripture is full of people who walked paths that terrified them.
- Moses, stammering his way toward Pharaoh.
- Esther, stepping into a throne room that could have cost her life.
- Peter, climbing out of a perfectly good boat into a storm.
None of them felt ready. All of them felt fear. And yet each one discovered that God’s strength meets us most powerfully in the places where our own strength runs out.
The path that scares us isn’t always the wrong one. Sometimes it’s the one God has been preparing us for all along.
Maybe you’re standing at the edge of something right now — a decision, a change, a conversation, a calling. Maybe it feels too big or too uncertain. Maybe you’re tempted to wait until you feel braver.
But courage rarely arrives fully formed. It grows as we move.
And perhaps that’s the quiet wisdom in Campbell’s words: the path that scares you might be the very path that leads you into deeper purpose, deeper trust, deeper life.
If your heart is tugging you toward something new — something stretching, something that feels just a little beyond your comfort — don’t dismiss it too quickly. Fear doesn’t always mean “stop.” Sometimes it means “pay attention.”
Because maybe, just maybe, the path that scares you the most is the one you need to take.
Here’s ‘Oceans (Where my feet may fail)’ by Hillsong United which is about being called out beyond the comfortable and the familiar, which fits perfectly with my post today.
The Distinct Dot 