Mountains

This past week I heard a sermon about being “thankful.” We were encouraged to write down some things that we are thankful for. One of the things that I wrote down was “mountains!”

As I started thinking about it, I realized that mountains actually represent challenges, problems, or obstacles to overcome. Climbing those mountains can be hard – sometimes you even think about quitting. But that sense of victory that comes at the very top makes it so worth it. I love the mountains!

But then I got to thinking about the challenges in my personal life. If I love mountains so much, why would I run from my own personal struggles? Why would I want to run from the challenge? When the going is hard and the pain is intense – that’s when life is most real, most gut wrenching, most brutally honest. How will I respond to the battle? Will I press on towards the goal? Will I choose another avenue to run from it all, like drugs, food, alcohol, or even friends to make me “forget” the battle? NO!

In the real mountains, I can think of two things that would make me quit or leave. The first is not having a goal in view. If it was dark/snowy and I did not have a GPS/compass – I might as well pack it up and head home. The second thing that would make me quit would be not having the right gear. Shorts and a t-shirt are just not going to cut it in a Colorado blizzard!

I began to see that these two reasons are what often causes me to want to “quit” the personal battles I deal with. No goal (vision) for what the victory will look like, and not having the right gear (proper preparation). For instance, in training our children – I need to have a vision of what success will look like: an adult of character who desires to do the right thing, even when it’s difficult. If that is the vision, then I will be willing to address the issue of lying over and over again, as many times as is needed for them to learn. And it’s pretty obvious that as a parent I need some training (some tools) in order to be able to teach the kids in wise and appropriate ways. Without being educated on appropriate methods, I could easily be setting them up for failure and myself for quitting.

Ready to go climb a mountain with me?