LIFE IS LIKE A MOUNTAIN

I was thinking about this the other day as my family and my sister-in-law's family, climbed Mount Monadnock in New Hampshire. Last year, while we were here, was the first time, we all went hiking together, and it was so much fun (for some of us), that we decided to do it again; but this time, we encouraged (forced) the rest of the family to come. O.k., it wasn't exactly forced. The children were told (by whom, I'm not telling) that if they hiked up the mountain with us, they could stay up until midnight and go with us after the hike to get ice cream. Needless to say, a few of them didn't make it up the mountain, but still stayed up until midnight and ate ice cream (please don't flood me with responses about our lack of parenting skills!) Nine of us did make it to the top, taking one of the intermediate trails (The Old Dublin Trail). It is a steady climb up, the trails are not very smooth, and there ends up being quite a bit of rock climbing (the fun part!) We beat our time getting up the mountain by about 15 minutes, doing it in about 1 hour and 40 minutes. Coming down the mountain took only 1 hour and 15 minutes, after we hung out at the top for a while, and took a well deserved snack and water break.

There are some things I learned, or was reminded of, that were obvious, but hard none the less: I'm getting older, by the second, and that fact seems to be more evident when I'm climbing a mountain; in trying to be gentlemanly and all of that, I volunteered to carry the backpack full of water bottles and food, to the top - not realizing that the extra weight on the back would making jumping up and down rocks, and treading some narrow, root covered trails, a little more painful and trying (Did I mention I think I almost pulled my back out and almost sprained an ankle? are you crying for me?) I felt my knee and "heard" it say to me several times: "Greg, if you don't stop stressing me so much, with all of your weight, the backpack weight and traversing these hills and rocks, I'm going to give out on you - don't test me!" I decided to ignore my knee and carry on (oh, the ignorance of youth). Coming back down the mountain, which should have been easy, since it was "down", was a huge challenge for me (especially my aforementioned knee), since I had to be careful not lose control and start rolling down the mountain trail. I felt more stress trying to stop myself from going too fast than I did trying to climb up the rocks and roots.

As I was on my way down the mountain, I did have a lot of time to reflect on the spiritual picture that climbing a mountain gives us. Life is a lot like mountain climbing. There is the incredible challenge before us, an uncertain aspect of it, some pain is likely, and yet the hope of reaching the top keeps us going. It is about taking one small step at a time. Sometimes that step is on even, smooth ground (very rarely it seems); and many times, those steps must be taken going up hill, over uneven ground, on roots and over rocks. Sometimes, we can run free, or just sit and enjoy the view; but at other times, we must carefully step, lest we become careless and really get hurt, or worse yet, run right off the mountain! There is a mental aspect involved in mountain climbing, and in life, that is crucial. If we are not focused, we can easily be distracted and not take our next steps; or we can become so discouraged that we become "paralyzed" or even take steps backwards (sometimes even choosing to walk in the opposite direction, completely defeated). There is also the aspect of doing the climb with other people. Sometimes those people can discourage us or pull us down with them. Sometimes, those people can encourage us and help us on the journey. And each of us needs to decide what kind of fellow journeyman we are going to be: either pulling others down on their journey or helping them along. I wonder how others view me, in this regard.

The spiritual application, for me, was pretty pointed: There is joy and beauty and exciting aspects of this Christian life, and there are tough, discouraging, challenging aspects as well. There is the sure hope that the top of the mountain exists and that I will eventually get there; and there is the uncertainty of how long it will take and what my experience will be, exactly, along the way. I feel, lately, like I have been climbing up some steep rocks, not sure at what moment, I would slide down and get hurt. I was challenged, as I thought and prayed about this, to just take one step at a time, looking for the right trail, even if it takes longer, and means I will need to slow down in order to take others with me. I was challenged to remember to enjoy the journey and not just think about how great the destination will be. This is where I am and what I learned on my trip up and down the mountain. So, I learned something on my family vacation: go figure. Does that make it tax deductible?

All in all, it was an enjoyable experience; although my sister-in-law's car battery was dead when we finished, and since we didn't bring jumper cables and we were in the middle of "nowhere" (at least it seemed that way), we were stranded for another hour plus, waiting for AAA, when we were all ready to "crash" for a nap. Instead, once "jumped", we travelled further from home, to go to "Kimball's farm" for ice cream. As my teenage daughter noted: "it didn't make a whole lot of sense making the reward for climbing a mountain and getting good exercise - eating ice cream, gaining back all the lost calories,and then staying up until midnight,putting extra stress on an exhausted body." Oh well, we never claimed to be the smartest parents around (please note I am deferring some, if not all of the blame to my fellow parents along for the journey!)

Next time you're in New Hampshire and drive by Mount Monadnack (I know what you're thinking!), take some time, climb the mountain; and wherever you may be in your journey at the moment: take the next step!