A Lesson in Mountain Climbing

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 "Walkin's easy when the road is flat, them danged 'ole hills will get you everytime,

Yeah, the Good Lord gave us mountains so we could learn how to climb."

- Lonestar "Mountains"

 

We've all done it.  We've all hiked a mountain.  Whether it be small or big, we've all conquered SOME sort of mountain.  

We've all felt our lungs burn and the struggle get stronger as the mountain gets steeper, as we climb and aim for the top that's so close but yet seems so far away.  

What we don't all do is take a moment to learn a lesson while we're climbing...

Hiking a mountain is a lot like walking through life.  You may struggle along the way but you have to keep your focus on what awaits you at the top.  Just when you get to the hard part and don't think you can go any further, you remember what's at the top and you press on. 

Just as a friend reaches down to take your hand and help you up the steep part of the mountain, so does Jesus.  Right when we get to the steepest part of the mountain...right when we think we can't hold on anymore...Jesus reaches down, grabs us by the hand and pulls us up.  What a cool image!  

Reaching the top of the mountain is a happy, joyous moment.  You stand there amazed at God's beauty that is in front of your eyes.  It's in that moment that you realize that no matter how hard the climb, the view at the top was worth it all.  Climbing that mountain builds stamina.  The next mountain you climb will be easier...as will as the next.  ALL because of that first mountain you climbed.  All because of your perseverance to overcome the obstacle of the mountain because you knew what awaited you at the top.

Turning around and walking away is easy but the learning comes from the climbing.

When you look at life like a mountain you need to see God as the "top of the mountain".  The goal.  Make God the ultimate goal.  The goal that never goes away.  The goal that is not a goal but rather a passion.  Give all you have to reach the "top of the mountain".  Want it with EVERYTHING you have - because it is your everything!

Push yourself.

Do not delay.

Do not give up.

Push forward.

Work hard.

CLIMB THAT MOUNTAIN.

God's waiting.  

Turning around on the mountain and walking away before reaching the top is NOT an option.

"I've learned that everyone wants to live on top of the mountain, but all the happiness and growth occurs while climbing it."  

-Andy Rooney 

A Seasonal Analogy

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So here's the analogy:  In the fall and winter a tree loses all its leaves and is left only with its scrawny looking, bark covered, branches.  In the spring these scrawny, bark covered, branches produce new leaves, leaving the once ugly tree beautiful again.  From there the tree flourishes and produces through the season until the winter comes again, where the cycle repeats.  

When trees lose everything from their branches and are stripped bare they don't dry up and die, but rather they prepare to emerge from the season and into the next season as a stronger tree.  Each time the seasons come to pass a tree gains strength.

We're like trees.

We go through seasons of life where God completely strips us of things that were once part of us.  God strips us to get us back to the core.  He get's us back to the core to prepare us for the next season.  To strengthen us.  To refresh us.  To renew us.  He strips away the old in order to make room for the new. (Read 2 Corinthians 5:17!)
 
Season by season God is constantly strengthening us.   

Sometimes it takes being stripped back to the core in order to grow into the kind of tree in the next season that God intends for you to be. 

At times it may take becoming weak to become stronger.  

But just a as a tree without a doubt produces leaves again in the spring, know that you can't stay bare forever. Know that you, too, will go through seasons.  Seasons of strength and seasons of weakness.  

So whether you're finding yourself bare like a tree in the dead of winter or full of life like a tree in the spring know that winter can't last forever and spring is just around the corner.  (Read 2 Corinthians 12:10!)

God is preparing you, no matter the season, for something BETTER.

Here's a song that serves as a wonderful reminder:  Beautiful Things