Summiting One Step at a Time
Yesterday I had the opportunity to summit Gros Morne Mountain on the west coast of Newfoundland. While I’ve taken plenty of opportunities to lace my up my boots and take to the trails this season, this was the first real mountain. It did my west-coast-Canada heart good.
After hiking in 4km, slowly gaining through the forest, I emerged at a viewing platform looking up the bouldered-gully, the route to rapidly ascend the remaining 500 metres of elevation.
The sign there warned to not continue if the mountain was covered in cloud. Being blessed with mainly blue sky at that moment, I tightened my pack straps and began picking my way up the daunting incline.
As I focused on one boulder at a time with dogged determination, I thought how much of life is lived this way: being faithful to take the next step, slow and steady.
Graciously God has given us a view of life’s summit. It is a destination so worth gaining it motivates the climb. As Charlie Fordham (Capernwray Harbour) said recently, one does not need a vision of a great work to do, one needs only a vision of Christ, and then obedience to do what He says.
Knowing the goal of being with God, face-to-face, I can proceed step-by-step, day-by-day. But unlike Gros Morne Mountain, when clouds roll in and obscure all but my next steps, I do not have to turn back.
“Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path,” lilted the Scripture song in my head, in rhythm with my measured steps yesterday. This is the promise of Psalm 119:105. Guidance is promised for my feet, the path right in front of me. I am not promised a clear view of the whole route. This is grace too, for I might stop climbing if I knew the sum of effort required.
But in the end, dear friends, it will be so worth it. So if life seems a sweaty, weary grind right now, remember with me that God is not only the very worthy destination, but also the guide for each step.
And why not celebrate the moments we get a view along the way? As so aptly captured in the I Am They song “How Far We’ve Come”:
Look at the mountains we've climbed
Look at how faithful He's been, to deliver us
Look at how far we've come
The story of unfailing love
Jesus has made a way, to deliver us
Look at how far we've come
