The Hike

The Hike 

October 4, 2020

So today, we decided to take a short hike, not like most hikes we take.  Today was only a mile long and we usually do 2-4 miles on a calmer day of hiking and then when we vacation and go to another place that is exciting and different, we may do a 4-6 mile hike.  This is newer to our family.  David and I have been married 20 years and just in the last three years we have begun to go hiking and camping and it is now one of our favorite things to do.  We like the idea of saving money by tent camping and making dinners over a fire and charcoal grill and propane stove.  We like being out doors and seeing God's creation all arounds and I'm always in awe of how delicately everything is planned in God's creation.  

But today......today was an object lesson for me.  I have to tell you, in case you haven't noticed, that I'm overweight.  Actually, if you look up my height and weight (and I shall not reveal that part to you), I'm considered obese.  So, I've been trying to lose the weight and at least not gain back what I have already lost, but I have now digressed from my thoughts, here we go, I have been walking with our life group two days a week and I'm also trying to fit in another day of walking each week so that I stay fit and continue to try and lose weight.  

However, I have noticed that every hike I have done with my family has been difficult.  I keep thinking that each time I do a hike, my body will be more fit, I will be able walk without trying to catch my breath, but it never happens.  EVERY SINGLE HIKE I have done has been DIFFICULT.  There has been at least one place in the hike that I have thought in my mind how easy it would be to quit, to stop and just go back and wait for the boys because ( I could name many excuses, I'm obese, my back hurts, I'm out of breath, my legs or hips hurt).  But I don't, I just keep going.  I keep pushing myself knowing that the hike will end eventually and that I will have succeeded in one more hike.  

 

Today we started up the hike on a very steep incline.  I didn't even get the opportunity to wonder where the hard part of the hike was going to be.  BAM!  It was at the beginning!  I struggled up it, huffing and puffing, and I wasn't feeling well in the beginning anyway.  I have a very bad ear infection and didn't even know that until two days ago, and I could  have stayed home and said forget it, I'm not feeling well, so I'll just skip this hike.  If I skipped it, I wouldn't have been so impacted by it in my Spirit.

So we kept going and guess what!  BAM!!!! Another thing occurred, a roadblock.  

I mean, we could have turned around instead of going around it.  But we didn't, we kept going.  

I started thinking of my life and everything that I as a person could use for excuses to not continue something.  

Our life is like this at time isn't it?  Sometimes we are going along our hike pleasantly and enjoy the scenery and the calm cool breeze in the trail and all of a sudden, we run out of breath, we have to stop and rest for a minute because we can't go anymore.  

But sometimes, we start our stroll in the trail and immediately we are bombarded with a steep climb. We can chose to turn back and take the easy way and stay where we parked our car to begin the hike and observe the trail in that place, in the air condition or the vehicle or we can push on up the hill to see what is on the other side.  

Okay, so we choose to keep going up and then we encounter  a roadblock.  Come on God!  For real, He is going to make us go up this steep incline, which took our breath away, huffing and puffing, and then there's a roadblock there.  REALLY!?!?!  So what are we going to do now.  Are we going to go over the roadblock, see if there is another path around it or are we going to turn around, go back down the steep incline and just observe the trail from our air conditioned car?  

So, my family today kept going.  The whole trail I was thinking of this blog and the lesson that I learned on day I didn't feel well, and as I'm writing this, I still don't feel well.  I kept thinking that at the end of the trail, there was eventually going to be a downhill.  I was going to come out of this trail accomplishing the goal of completing it and learning another lesson about myself and about God.  

I have to admit, it's so easy to just use the excuses that we tell ourselves to not accomplish a goal and just think that it's easier to do something else in place of that.  But if we never went on the trial, if we never tried the hike, if we never climbed the steep hill, how many things would we miss?  

2020 hasn't been nice to any of us.  We are all a little more stressed, our nation is in turmoil in so many ways, our school children, teachers, parents are stressed to their limits and it would be easy to just give up and walk back to our area of comfortable, i.e. the air conditioned car, and decide that we will observe the trial and maybe one day walk the steep incline.  Yet, if I personally did that, I would be missing so many memories, so many lessons, so many opportunities to increase my faith in God; I would miss the opportunities of meeting new people, of beginning a life group that has become my extended family. I would have missed the opportunity to begin a financial advisor business that I believe will one day become my extra income and not just a side job.  I would miss the opportunities to create stories and time spent with my family.  

Don't give yourself excuses to not climb the incline.  There really is a downhill at the end and it's relaxing, rewarding and fulfilling.