I made a big mistake with this super-quiet friend once.

We were out to dinner and I put my foot in my mouth, which is not untypical, and called him ‘passive’ - when the truth was he wasn't passive, but quiet.

In other words, just because he preferred being thoughtful and introspective didn’t mean he lacked an opinion or an idea.

The problem with a religion like Christianity is that it’s best known for serving, forgiving, and letting the other person go first - so that we Christians often get this reputation for meekness, submission, and compliance - and the assumption is that we lack ambition, courage, and a strong desire to achieve.

In Sunday’s gospel Jesus commends an ambitious woman for knowing what she wants and going to great lengths to get it, the subtext being that there’s nothing wrong with ambition, it’s a natural drive to cooperate with God’s plan as we pursue the improvement of our particular set of abilities.

This should serve as motivation for you and me to cultivate our ambitions - not for more money, possessions, or experiences, but for the things that pumped up Jesus:

Can we be ambitious about serving people around us?

Can we be ambitious about jumping into campaigns and movements that serve to heal the world?

Can we be ambitious about practicing the presence of Christ at all times - realizing that He’s with us always - looking hard to see Jesus in everyone and everything that’s here?

In Matthew 28, Jesus’ last word to his disciples wasn’t ‘stay’ but ‘go.’

Don’t ‘stay’ mired in the ‘way things have always been’ and a mentality not to 'rock the boat.'

But ‘go’ follow the ambitions of your heart - stir things up - cause a ruckus.

Racism, suicide, opiate addiction, political gridlock - there’s no shortage of mountains to climb.

Let’s not be afraid to look at that mountain and say ‘yep’ - I can climb that.