Mothers Who Know

Lesson learned from Hiking

Today we went hiking. It was a beautiful day, with blue skies, cool temperatures, and low humidity. It was one of the top ten days you get every year. The mountain we hike is pretty small - as a matter of fact, its not even technically a mountain, it is called Blue Hill. There are many trails you can hike, but our favorite is about a half mile to an observation tower, then a little ways further to a ski slope that the kids run down. It takes about two hours from the time we get there, till we leave.

We usually carry the baby, and everyone else walks. So the three year old was walking, and kept slipping in her sandals, so we let her go barefoot. There are a lot of rocks, and after a while two others chose to go barefoot as well, as it made for easier climbing. A few times, she remarked, this way is too hard. I would look down and find her looking up in a certain direction. I would then point out that if she went a tiny bit to the side, she would have a much easier time. How much like our journey is that? Many times, I think we look ahead from where we are, and are paralyzed with fear, (or at least worried) about how impossible life seems. Then, our loving Father in Heaven, slowly draws our attention to a nearby path, that we didnt even see before, that is much easier, or at least climbable. Unfortuneately, many of us, instead of taking the correction, continue to try to push on for a while before asking for help. I pray that I may have the faith of my daughter, to ask for help when I first realize I need it, and to stop always trying to 'do it myself'.

The second lesson I learned today, was on the way down the ski slope. It takes us an hour to hike up around the mountain to the top - but the way down is just straight. It takes about 15 minutes to get down. At the top, and a few points down, it looks like the earth just drops away, as it so steep. My daughter, upon seeing this, says, "Thats way too dangerous, I cant do that".  I explained how, just because it looks impossible, or too dangerous from here, doesn't mean it is. I explained how it is steep and we need to be careful, but if we just worry about where we are, and a little bit further, it wont seem so bad when we get to the scary part. We focused on how it wasnt so bad from where we were to where Daddy was, and from there to where Ashes was. By the time we got there, we could see the next part of the path, and it no longer looked like the earth was going to drop away from us. As I was teaching her this, I was again struck by how many times, we declare things impossible, only because from our vantage point, they seem to be. That if we will just focus on the next few steps, the journey will eventually appear to our eyes, and won't be as fearsome as it seems. That we need to have faith, like our daughter did, that our Father, wont take us on a journey that is beyond us. We need to trust him, and have faith. Sometimes, the road is so treacherous looking, that we might only be able to take one step at a time, using all our energy, and sometimes we will be able to run and look far ahead, but it is all known to our Father, and it is all for our own good.