Since high school, I have thoroughly enjoyed running several miles a day, early in the morning, just as the sun is making its way into the vast blue sky. I love listening to the symphony of birds as they awaken one another and the sound of my shoes as they hit the ground. The smell of a crisp autumn morning, a chilly winter break of day or the slightly humid beginning to my daily routine is always something I look forward to. I never use an iPod, bring my phone or have any type of distraction with me whatsoever. I want to soak in my environment and just be.
I find that same feeling can be found as I hike, which is something I have done a lot of recently over the past few months. Whether it’s out in a cold rain with a gray sky overheard or it’s a sunny and very hot day, I so enjoy the peace and the time alone. This is an opportunity for me to gather my thoughts and examine what is happening in my life. It also provides me with a way to simply stop the day-to-day endless to-do lists and agenda items so that I may just live in the now. Be still and marvel at God’s creations all around me. I take in the delicate flowers and plants that gather on either side of the trail or the glorious lake with its silver ripples as the wind sweeps across the top. I love looking straight up at the tops of the trees as they sway back and forth; the blue sky behind it as a background that a masterful painter wishes he or she could capture on canvas.
As I make my way through the winding trails, climbing steep rocks just so I can reach the top of the ridge, I see how hiking can mirror our lives. Every day, we must choose a trail; a path if you will. We have choices to make and mistakes we must live with. Some roads are smooth and easy to navigate, while others prove more challenging. Sometimes, we wonder, “did I just pass that same tree a few minutes ago” or we may feel like we’re walking around in circles. The most important thing to remember is to keep walking; to keep climbing. Many times, I have been making my way up an unfamiliar trail wondering “am I’m going the right way”, “what was that noise”, “maybe I should just turn around and go down another trail.” But I always find that if I stick it out and move beyond the fear of the unknown, I finally reach the clearing and it’s always so breathtaking! How many times in our lives are we just so close, but yet turn back and never reach our potential, that which is waiting for us.
I encourage all of you to never stop climbing; never stop reaching because you’d be surprised at just how close you are!
“I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them, I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth.” Isaiah 42:16
