I will occasionally blog hop and read where ever I end up. It's a little like window shopping in the mall. I'm usually not reading with a purpose, I don't plan on purchasing anything but it's fun to look. One day I came across a post from a parent who had taken their small children on a hike that they knew would push the limits of their ability. There were pictures, cute happy faces on the trail, scenery, oddities found along the way, and triumphant we made it faces at the end. The author said (paraphrased) she whined a little, asked to be carried, didn't want to go any further but she did it -- just like I knew she could -- without being carried. It took a lot of encouragement and reminding her what was at the end, but she did it. I wish I could remember where I found it so I could quote it instead of trying to remember it from my biased memory.
The phrase whisked me out of peeking into a stranger's life and back into my own.
How many times in life do we get tired and think that our hike is too long, too hard, too bumpy, too hot, too uphill and just plain too. I know that I've whined and asked to be carried and quite possibly pouted when things didn't get easier. Fortunately I've also had a lot of encouragement and reminders of what is at stake and the bigger picture.
There have also been times that I'm certain I've been carried, when suddenly my load seems lighter and I catch a glimpse of a beautiful overlook.
If we were carried everywhere in life we'd atrophy just like unused muscles. The hike has to be bumpy, hard, and even a little precarious at times for us to grow and strengthen. I look back at those times that I was pouty and realize that I wasn't carried not because I wasn't loved but because He knew I could do it. It pushed the limits of my ability and it was slow. Sometimes I stopped and sat down on a log, refusing to go any further but I made it. Well, I haven't made it yet -- but I made it past that difficult stretch of trail.
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