Soar, Climb, Change Your Perspective

Kites rise highest against the wind - not with it. (Winston Churchill) I know there are lots and lots things we walk through that have absolutely no appeal to us - we'd rather just dismiss them and walk away rather than go through them. What makes it more frustrating for us is the prolonged period of facing those troubles. We don't mind if they 'come and go' as long as they do so quickly. We don't want them hanging around! All kites rise best when there is wind, my friends, and opposing winds help it to soar higher and higher. A kite without the wind is just a little bit of fabric, paper, sticks, and string. With the wind, it is majestic beauty!

My brothers and sisters, you will have many kinds of trouble. But this gives you a reason to be very happy. You know that when your faith is tested, you learn to be patient in suffering. If you let that patience work in you, the end result will be good. You will be mature and complete. You will be all that God wants you to be. James (1:2-4)

Have you ever been in a forested area and observed some form of vine ascending the tall trees around you? Those vines are nothing more than 'ground crawlers' without the tree! Either way, on the ground or climbing the tall trees, they are still vines. They just have different perspectives and challenges! One rises above, the other is content to just crawl along the low places in life. I don't know about you, but I am not content to crawl along the low places in life. I want to climb to new heights and I want to soar as the kite - higher and higher, meeting each opposing wind with strength, endurance, and beauty!

To rise, one faces great opposition. Imagine the little vine trying to make the climb. It has to resist the pull of gravity if it is to climb. Yes, it is equipped with small 'tentacle like' appendages that it sends off to help hold it in place as it wraps its way up the tree. Yes, it has all the resources of being solidly planted in the ground to ensure it continues to grow. Yes, it needs the sunlight to keep growing. But...if it never begins the struggle to move out of the forest floor, it remains a 'bottom crawler' and is subject to the life as limited as that may be. 

To rise, we need to have determined focus to move from where we are to where we will become our best. The kite is designed to soar high. It begins the ascent little by little. As it 'catches the wind', it begins to climb. Just as the tiny vine begins the climb, the kite endures the hardships of opposing forces all around it. The higher it climbs, the easier it becomes to soar as it should. It is where it should be, not in the absence of the opposing forces, but because of them! 

We are made into what we are designed to be not in the absence of those opposing forces in life, but because of them! Let them grow your faith. The kite takes on a new 'form' as it ascends, much like the tiny vine. The vine is able to develop at sometimes astronomical speed as a result of the climb. The kite expands and begins to display its full beauty as it soars high above in the face of those winds. Time to ascend, my friends. Just sayin!

Let me sit down for a while!

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. (Ralph Waldo Emerson) 

There have been lots of times I hiked on paths just way too hard for my level of conditioning. I don't know why I do it, but somehow I think I will make it. About a third of a way to the destination my body begins to tell me I bit off more than I can chew and in a short while it begs for me to just turn back! When we find ourselves on a path that is hard, maybe even what we might come to recognize as 'too hard' for us, what do we do? Turn back? Rest a while and go on? Creep forward at a snail's pace because we won't be fazed by the torture of moving forward? If you are like me, you rest a bit, then press on. You might find you need frequent rests along the way, but eventually you make it to the destination. Worn out, aching from the exertion, maybe even with a few blisters to show the 'torture' of the climb - but you made it. Making it isn't the main thing - it is probably more important we are on the right journey!

Your words are a flashlight to light the path ahead of me and keep me from stumbling. (Psalm 119:105)

The path we choose is often a result of our mindset at the moment. As a novice hiker, I didn't realize you could actually research the 'degree' of difficulty of a trail. In fact, most marked trails have a trailhead that describes the degree of difficulty so you don't bite off more than you can chew! Ignore the signs and you may find yourself on a path that just isn't all the easy, or all that worthwhile! You won't enjoy the climb if it is much more than you are ready to handle! In fact, you could even be endangering yourself by being on the climb in the first place. I am not ready to climb Kilimanjaro, so to undertake that venture would be more than dangerous! I learned a simple lesson about trails - it is a way of calculating the climb. An easy trail is usually less than three miles, pretty flat, and usually able to be traversed without much change in elevation. A moderate trail is a lot harder, not only because it somewhere between three to five miles in length, but there are inclines and climbs requiring some agility and exertion. A moderately strenuous trail is just about above my level of conditioning, though. The terrain involves a steep climb or two, strenuous at best, and is labeled quite clearly as NOT suitable for those that are unconditioned to the climb.

Wouldn't it be nice if all our 'climbs' in life could be as clearly labeled for us? If we have a journey we are being asked to take and could consider the 'condition' of our soul and spirit ahead of time, would that journey make us take more time to prepare before we set out on it? Maybe! Would we be as quick to launch out with our unconditioned or "Under-Conditioned" souls? Probably not! We'd want a little 'conditioning' before we launched forward. Wouldn't it be much better to be 'always ready' for the climb ahead - regardless of the degree of hardness? I am not there yet - how about you? Until that time, I will allow God's Word to continue to condition my soul and spirit - climbing those trails he prepares for me and trusting him to show me how best to prepare for the next one that will likely be just a little more challenging. That is all we can really do, my friends. Prepare, be ready, and then be 'in tune' with the path we are about to travel. Don't be afraid to ask our 'trail guide' to point us along those trails for which we are best suited to climb - challenging us a little, but clearly not beyond our degree of readiness! Just sayin!

Valley or Hilltop View? It is different, you know!

"Over every mountain there is a path, although it may not be seen from the valley." 

Theodore Roethke

I have done a fair amount of hiking in my lifetime, but one thing continues to amaze me when I reach some summit point - the look back down the trail by which we ascended to this new height. The 'look back' often shows just how many switchbacks, twists, and turns that path really took. It also often shows us just how much we missed that was right there in front of us, but because of the things that 'bordered' the path, we missed what was just beyond that border. The view from the top is much different than the view while we are traveling the path. At the moment we enter that 'trail head' to explore the path, do we know what the path will hold? Not likely. If we have traveled it before, we are probably a little familiar with it, but even a short period of time and the influence of the elements can change that path. Erosion occurs where rain waters flow freely down the hill. Underbrush grows, sheds leaves, becomes the nesting grounds for new creatures. All is subject to change - nothing remains the same. Yet, the path still leads to the summit - changed as it might be from one ascent to another - it is still an ascent!

Is there anyplace I can go to avoid your Spirit? To be out of your sight? If I climb to the sky, you’re there! If I go underground, you’re there! If I flew on morning’s wings to the far western horizon, You’d find me in a minute— you’re already there waiting! Then I said to myself, “Oh, he even sees me in the dark! At night I’m immersed in the light!” It’s a fact: darkness isn’t dark to you; night and day, darkness and light, they’re all the same to you. (Psalm 139:7-12 MSG)

God is faithful as we climb the path - this is the one 'constant' in the path. The other changes we experience are indeed eye-catching and sometimes even a little startling. Nothing changes without God taking notice and preparing for our safe travel over that pathway, my friends. Over every mountain there is a path - what is that path for you today, my friend? Is it one that will bring you the greatest of delight in the journey, or will the ascent by harder than you might have imagined? I have taken on some paths in my years that were just way too advanced for my hiking skills. I wasn't prepared with the right shoes, didn't have a walking stick to help me maintain balance, and simply was too out of shape to really have attempted them. I didn't quit though - I just persevered because the view from the top was going to be worth it all! There are times we may feel inadequate for the path we are upon, but remember this - God has prepared a place for us to stand at the top, to take it all in, and to marvel at the greatness of his hand in helping us make it to that place!

Just a short reminder to us today as we are making new transitions, finding ourselves on paths that are yet unexplored in our lives, and re-traveling some that have been traveled so many times the path is worn smooth. We aren't going to appreciate the journey with each step - it is the accumulated steps that help us to appreciate the journey - for these are what have helped us be set high, enjoying the vantage point, and seeing the journey's path in total! Just sayin!

Climb - go ahead - climb

One that would have the fruit must climb the tree. 

(Thomas Fuller)

When was the last time you climbed a tree? It has been years since I have actually climbed a tree in a literal sense! I consider it good these days to just scale a ladder! In a spiritual sense, I am constantly being asked to climb trees and reminded of the advantage of getting that different perspective! Not to mention - access to fruit I'd otherwise never be able to reach!

Godly men are growing a tree that bears life-giving fruit, and all who win souls are wise. (Proverbs 11:30 TLB)

A tree is made up of all manner of branches - some large and quite broad spreading; others wispy-like, but capable of holding lots and lots of weight beyond their imagined capacity. We'd think nothing of taking hold of that one with the broad expanse and firmness evident just by its size, right? We'd be silly to expect that wispy one to hold our weight, but it holds something very good if we can shimmy our way out to it on the more "substantial" one - fruit!

We rely upon the sturdy things in our lives to help the fruit grow to full proportion, but also to help us realize the benefits of that fruit. We look for fruit, not on the bigger branches, but on the smaller ones all covered with leaves. Why? This is where fruit grows! It grows at the furthest points in life - as far removed from the roots as possible, but still vitally connected to the roots as the source of all it needs!

The fruit we produce isn't just going to grow because we want it to. It grows because the tree is nurtured. That means the sturdy branches are pruned so they become sturdier and the roots are constantly making contact with that which the tree needs in order to grow and produce that fruit. In Arizona, we have lots of citrus, but those trees needs lots of regular attention in order to produce the most luscious of fruit from their branches.

God isn't going to ask us to look for fruit where there is none - so don't stand under the tree and expect it to fall into your hands! If we are to have the enjoyment of fruit, we have to climb the tree - but in order to do so, the tree has to grow strong enough to not only support the weight of the fruit, but ours, as well! Just sayin!

Oh, what a view!

Many of us have probably ridden a bike at one time or another. Isn't there a vast difference between coasting and peddling? Think of the last time you road uphill - how much more energy did you have to exert to actually get up that hill? If you are out of shape, you'd probably say it was horrendously hard! You found yourself huffing and puffing, holding onto your side which was splitting from the intense cramp you developed, and you knew for sure you'd "feel that one in the morning". Arnold Bennett was an English novelist and his opinion was that hills were meant for climbing, not coasting. Why? The best view was from the top!

It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, and many nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Micah 4:1-2 ESV)

We might just have to admit our view is determined most by whether we are settling for coasting, or putting forth the effort to actually climb the hill. I know the climb is harder, but I agree with Bennett - the view is the most spectacular at the top of the summit! Recently I had the opportunity to take my grandsons up into the mountains of Arizona. As we made a very subtle ascent into the mountains, the elevation changes were not all that evident. We had mountains all around us obstructing our actual view of the significant climb we were making. It is like the old adage - not seeing the forest for the trees. About five minutes from the top of the range, I pointed out a huge ridge of rocks that formed an awesome lookout point just ahead of us - a place that put into perspective the significance of the climb. Oftentimes we don't think we will ever reach the place of perspective, but when we do, what an awesome place that is!

My SUV was loaded down with all the gear and food we'd need for our five day adventure, plus the five of us. It was working quite hard at times to make that 7600 foot climb through the windy roads, but when we finally made it - awesome! The break in the trees gave way to the splendor of the lush valleys below - laid out like a tapestry of various shades of green, red, and tan. I wonder if he noticed there were still higher peaks off in the distance, or that not all the distance we had traveled was within our view? There are times when we think we will see all things clearly just because we reach some point in our climb, but when we get to the top, we actually see points higher than we have achieved! We don't always see the places from where we have come, or the significant distance we have traveled.

The ability to just "coast" isn't really realized until we have made the climb! That descent from the higher ground is what gives us the "push" that allows us to coast - we stop working so hard for just a little bit, but it isn't because we will be able to do that for long - there will be another uphill climb soon! We need the "summit" experiences to help us get perspective and then to encourage us to use our newly found strength to mount the climb to the next peak! There will always be another climb ahead - we never really get to stay at the summit in life. We need to be prepared to move on when it is time and then to mount the next climb just as we did the present one. Maybe we take something of a new perspective with us as we do, but we climb because the view is always best at the top! Just sayin!

Mountain climbers don't skirt the mountain

If you have ever climbed a mountain, you know there are times when you get so out of breath you just don't think you are going to make it any further. The stress of going up that additional altitude just puts a strain on you that your body takes a while to adjust to, even for the most "conditioned" climber. The fact that we have climbed a mountain before doesn't always prepare us for the next great peak we must scale. Every climb can and will be slightly different, even when we traverse the same mountain again!

God arms me with strength, and he makes my way perfect.
33 He makes me as surefooted as a deer, enabling me to stand on mountain heights. (Psalm 18:32-33 NLT)

We are always going to be faced with things in this lifetime that seem to be as immovable mountains - the only way to move past them is either to walk the long, long way around them, or climb the hard climb to get over them. There is something magnificent that happens in the climb, though, that we don't actually find when we just choose to "skirt" the perimeter of the mountain. We don't get the newness of differing perspectives. On the ground, at the base of the mountain, the view of the mountain may appear different as we skirt the great expanse of its base, but we still don't have the advantage of "higher perspective".

You have heard the old saying that we cannot see the tree for the forest. If we never climb the mountain, we get bogged down in the details of what we "can" perceive, and we never get to a different perspective that could alter our perception. I think mountains come into our path because God wants to change our perspective - to help us see the beauty of the wood within those trees, or that there is much, much more in life all around us that we don't see because we are so focused on the "tree" issue in front of us. Yes, the climb to actually come into that "new perspective" is hard. Yes, it is going to challenge what is within us. Yet...if we stay where we are, or settle for skirting the base of the issue looming over us, we will never see what God sees!

The largest perspective comes as we move from the broad base of the mountain-like issue into the smaller areas at the peak of that issue - the more we "take on" the mountain, the less we see of the mountain and the more we see of what lies way beyond the base of that huge issue that stood in our way. Those who make it to the peak see very clearly that the real issue is usually something far different than what they perceived at the base of that mountain! Some of our hardest climbs bring us to the best understanding of the real issues we need to deal with in life!

We don't climb blindly, though. We prepare for the climb, but we don't spend endless hours and days and weeks and months just preparing. At some point, we stop skirting the base of the mountain-like issue and we just take the first steps upward. This takes a degree of faith, believing that when the climb gets us into tight spaces or tough territory to navigate, we will be as sure-footed as the deer continuing that climb! If you have ever tried to walk around a mountain-like issue, you just find there are other mountain-like issues behind that first mountain you didn't appreciate as there because you couldn't see them! When you climb the first mountain, you soon see where it is you need to navigate in order to make the journey in the least and more "productive" amount of time! 

Overcomers don't skirt the mountain - the take on the mountain, ascending into the heights until their perspective of the mountain and what lies beyond it changes enough for them to move beyond it! Just sayin!

Just one more step

For his eyes are on the ways of a man, and he sees all his steps. (Job 34:21 ESV)

While considering this morning's passage, it brought to mind by an East Indian poet by the name of Rabindranath Tagore: "You can't cross the sea merely by standing and staring at the water." The steps of a man are always in the sight of the Almighty - even when all he is doing is standing and pondering what it would be like to "get across" to the next place he'd like to be! The eye of man takes in the water in front of him, but God knows the passage safely through that water to the other side. Confucius said, "When it is obvious that the goals cannot be reached, don't adjust the goals, adjust the action steps." While not all our goals are exactly what God would have for us, in adjusting the "action steps" we take toward those goals, it often becomes apparent the ones which he never intended to have us pursue in the first place! As we ponder our next steps, we might do well to ponder if they are the specific ones God would have us take!

God's eyes are on the ways of a man - not just his steps, but also those times when we are just pondering the next step to take, or the vastness of the sea before us. He isn't just watchful of those steps, he has prepared a way for all of those steps to be taken with his care continually over our lives as we do - even when those steps are not specifically in the direction he'd have wanted us to take! That may seem a little hard to believe, but God's doesn't take his eyes off of us, nor does he remove his care over our lives just because we take a wrong step or two. Some may think he somehow leaves us to our own devices, but even in allowing us the autonomy to choose our own way, he continues to place specific "pondering moments" at the seaside of life to help us to see the journey we are facing if we continue on that path.

Someone once said it is not enough to just stare up the steps - we have to step up each step if we are to ever make it to the top. The truth is we don't always want to make the climb. We find the steps out of where we have gotten ourselves into a bit more daunting than the steps into that place seemed to be! That is when we stop and consider just how hard a climb it is "out" - but be assured of this - what is at the top of the stairs is much different than what we wallow in at the bottom. The steps are not taken by pondering - they are taken when we put for the effort to actually make the climb. God does the work of redeeming us from our sinfulness, but he also requires us to do more than just stare at the steps. He wants us to put forth the effort to climb each one - not two or three at a time, but one by one.

I have never been to the Statue of Liberty, but I hear the climb to the crown deck is somewhere around 400 steps. That is a lot of steps, my friend, but nothing compared to the nearly 900 steps required to ascend the Washington Monument. Does one outweigh the other in significance or splendor? Not really. They are both monuments. They are both symbolic of something significant. One just "out-steps" the other! Some of life's journeys are 400 steps, others are a much harder ascent, but all of these journeys are taken one step at a time! Just sayin!

I am "tied in"

If you have ever watched one of those game shows in which they allow a player to "call a friend" or "use a lifeline", you probably associate this maneuver as being their last-ditch hope for the possibility to move forward or to remain active in the game.  As they opt for this, they get "outside" help to solve a problem bigger than their ability to solve on their own.  This is the purpose of a lifeline - rescue.  A person who knits will tell you a totally different meaning of the term lifeline, though.  In the process of knitting a complex pattern, the knitter may actually insert a "spare thread" of yarn through an entire row of knitting.  This "lifeline" is not actually "knit into" the project and can easily be removed when the knitter is finished.  The purpose of the lifeline is to give a place to which you may return if you make a mistake beyond that point.  If you are attempting a complex pattern just above a whole lot of other knitting you have already completed, you may want to have a place to "return to" just in case your venture into the unknown new stitch proves to not work out as you planned.  In essence, they give themselves a place to "restart" without having to start at the beginning again.  The lifeline serves as a place of return whenever a "calamity" of sorts occurs beyond that point.  I think we make actually have all kinds of these types of lifelines placed into the "stitches" of our lives, as well.  In fact, we probably have a few more than we'd like to admit to at first!

We who have run for our very lives to God have every reason to grab the promised hope with both hands and never let go. It’s an unbreakable spiritual lifeline, reaching past all appearances right to the very presence of God where Jesus, running on ahead of us, has taken up his permanent post as high priest for us... (Hebrews 6:18-20 MSG)

Whenever we give ourselves a place of return - the point to which we may "go back" without losing out totally - we are placing a lifeline.  An example of this might be when we make a decision to do something new, with the idea running through our heads which goes something like, "Well, if this doesn't work out, I can always return to doing it this way."  So, when we look at the lifelines we have placed into the "fabric" of our lives, we may see a whole lot of loose threads - each holding a particular "place marker" just in case our step of faith doesn't pan out.  Ummm...in the practical sense, this might make sense, but when it comes to actually making any spiritual progress in life, this doesn't work so well.  In fact, if we are always giving ourselves an "out clause", we rarely will commit with the same tenacity.  When we take the "all or nothing" leap of faith, we aren't placing a lifeline.  We are trusting this step (or leap) of faith will result in a positive outcome and we are turning back, no matter what.

In rock climbing, the climber will tell you the rope makes all the difference, for it becomes their lifeline if there is even one tiny misstep.  They may slip a little, but they won't plummet to their death!  For this reason, they both select their ropes carefully, and determine the best place to anchor those ropes during their climb.  The wrong rope could make the difference between life and death.  The wrong attachment could result in free-fall and innumerable injuries.  Even more importantly, their ropes anchor them to each other - serving as a link between them and their partner as they climb.  It is this lifeline upon which they rely - for when they begin to experience "slippage" or a "misstep", their partner "cinches" up on the rope and prevents them from "going too far" in their fall.  They anchor them on that rope until they can regain their footing and start their climb again.

Now, I think most of us would agree that we might have a few lifelines woven into the fabric of our lives.  It is natural to want a place where we can return to without having to start from scratch all over again.  What we may not realize is what this type of lifeline actually does to our level of commitment. When we know we always have a place to return to without losing too much in the process, we don't actually grow to the same degree as when we are willing to risk it all.  The lifeline limits our risk - and we humans are all about managing risk!  Maybe not consistently, but we definitely have areas in our lives where risks are managed - maybe in relationship when we don't get too close at first because we have been hurt in the past, or maybe in obedience to something we know we should be doing because we know we have tried before and haven't done so well.  Either way, risk makes us uncomfortable, so we place the lifelines!  Yet, this isn't God's way of doing business - he actually wants us to rely upon him, not the lifeline!

Probably the closest "spiritual" reason for us to use a lifeline in our lives would be to use it as the climbers do.  In fact, I believe God gives us others to "tie into" in this journey since he knows we face some steep climbs in this journey.  There is much to be said about having the right climbing partner - for your very life depends upon the one you partner with!  Notice the climbing term "tie into" - it doesn't just imply we hang around with, or free-climb alongside other climbers.  The idea is of being linked together - purposed to aid each other as we climb.  There is always a lead climber - one who goes before and prepares the path for the other climbers.  This lead climber places the various anchors upon which those following behind may anchor in, belay to another point, and rest upon when they just plain get weary in the climb.  The one who takes the lead is then is at a higher risk - putting it all on the line for those who will climb behind.  

May I take some liberties here?  Christ is the lead climber!  He has gone before, skillfully placing anchors, determining the best footholds, and giving us the path by which we are to climb in life.  He went before, not because he loved the risk, but because he loved the climbers who would one day risk it all to climb with him.  In turn, he provides the lifeline upon which we may rely in our climb.  We might take a misstep here and there, slip a little, or even free-fall a ways, but when we anchor into him, we cannot and will not fall too far! We need to "tie into" each other in this climb, for we learn from those who climb with us.  Sometimes they will lead, and we will see how and where they climb, giving us insight into the climb ahead.  Each climber has to obtain their own foothold, but we can learn from those who have climbed this way ahead of us.  We might think we can "free-climb" and be the one placing the anchors, but trust me, even the best climber will eventually find themselves at the end of their own rope!  We need the lifeline of Christ if we want to finish this climb.  Just sayin!