Climbing

Climbing. 

It’s pretty much a sport where you purposely set out to do the impossible. A sport where-in the individual, the climber, dares to defy gravity, to struggle, to bleed, all to conquer and overcome some unchanging aspect, a rock.

The rock will not change; it will not help you or bend in any way. It is what it is, and there isn't much you can do about it as you hang from nylon threads. Unchanging, stubborn, and stiff it stands in defiance of the wind and rain. Yet it speaks to the wild at heart and calls for someone to dare to overcome. It’s a challenge, a challenge that dares you, the climber, to take your life from ground level to something higher. 

You set out to conquer this challenge alone. Yes there are ropes and yes there is someone below who is ideally willing and ready to catch you, but when you are on that rock you are alone. It’s just you, cold hard stone, and un-supportive air. Each move is yours to make. The person below can give you all the data in the world, they can give you a tight belay, they can even shout up encouraging words, but at the end of the day it is just you and the uncompromising rock and invisible air. It is up to the climber alone to keep on their upward journey.

The final aspect of the climbing element is the air. It’s all around. Air- Ever present, constantly at your back, and yet easily forgotten. It is also completely useless in the struggle that comes with obtaining the prize. In fact at times it can be a hindrance! -smacking and distracting you when complete focus is essential. Hauntingly it reminds you of your vulnerability and yet offers no tangible support, it simply lurks waiting for you to fail with open, yet un-supporting arms... 

Climbing isn't easy, but neither is really living.

In life, circumstances are the rocks. Everyone has their own stony set. Circumstances cannot be changed, they simply are. The goal is to overcome and take life to the next level, to thrive. Some don't really live. Rather they are content to stay down, to simply breathe and flow through life but not to strive with it. They see their circumstances as excuses to not climb and so instead they live in the shadows and the valleys of a hollow life. Instead of fighting for the higher goal they waste their given time by filling the void with other trifling and useless things while their rocks stand and obscure their view of all their individual potential. 

There are friends who support, and people who yell out tidbits of advice and encouragement. But at the end of the day they really can't do much. They can help, but to actually survive, to have the desire to climb, is something that must come from within. While others can influence, at the end of the day to choose to even try to really live is yours alone.

In life there is one difference though. One advantage that gives me hope. Like the air He is unseen, yet ever present and easily forgotten. However, unlike the air He is supportive.

I can't see God, but the fact that I am still breathing gives me reason to believe that He is there. Ever present and at my back my Father waits. He waits for me to dare to try, to defy all and strive for life. He stands beside me as I struggle with my personal circumstances. At times He too reminds me of my vulnerability and my desperate ever present need for His assistance. However, He will not force His services. No, instead He patiently stands by with open and ready arms ready to be right there to give me just what I need to make it. 

Neither climbing nor living a life worth living is easy. But in the end both are satisfying to the soul.