Mountain Perspective

Ryan and I went and hiked the mountains near Ouray, Colorado right before Christmas, so this post has been cooking for over a month now.

Have you ever heard of a muckraker? My senior high history class read about them last week. They were journalists who always pointed out the negative. They were named muckrakers by President Theodore Roosevelt. They were named after a character in John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress. The "Man with the Muck-rake" was too focused on the filth he was trying to clean to see salvation. If he'd only looked up, he would have been truly clean.

I discovered the importance and the beauty of looking up while Ryan and I hiked. I needed to focus on the snow covered paths as we hiked. I needed to watch my step and look at the trail. I got so exhausted breathing that high altitude air and exercising leg and butt muscles I don't use enough. I would need to bend over and just breathe. I would feel like the hike was pointless.

There was one cure for my exhaustion and my feeling that hiking was pointless. I looked up and out. I could see how high we'd climbed. I could see beautiful mountains right across from me and the town laid out below me. I could see a view I couldn't have seen if I hadn't climbed and if I hadn't looked up.

After we got home, Ryan downloaded our hikes from his wrist GPS into the computer, and we got yet another perspective of how far we went and how high we went. It was exciting and satisfying to see!

So much of the past year of Ryan being gone and unhappily waiting to have kids I've been looking down-getting through the day like I was getting through the next few feet on the trail. I should have looked up more often. I should have looked up to God and thanked Him for His plans for me.

I was able to thank God for the beauty of the mountain I climbed in Ouray. Now, I am starting to thank God for the beauty of the mountain I climbed while waiting. Like the climbing provided me with a beautiful view I could not have enjoyed without climbing. The difficult season in my life has provided me a closeness to God and a maturity I could not have gained without it.

I know there are many mountains to climb in every life, but I hope that you and I will always remember to look up unlike the "Man with the Muck-rake." I want to remove my focus from the filth of life and put my focus on the hope and salvation I have in God through Christ.

Looking up,

Jordon

Discipline

So, it's been a month and a half since my last blog. That's not too bad, except that it's been two months since I've exercised or eaten mostly healthy foods in a day, and two months since I've really got the house completely clean. Ryan has taken over many other little tasks around the house. Basically, I've not been doing much lately. Clearly, I'm lacking discipline.

It's hard to find discipline there between uptight perfectionism and laziness. As in many other areas of life, I bounce from one side of the spectrum to the other, but rarely stay balanced for long.

Having Ryan home and the holidays have really disrupted my routine. I needed to be relaxed and able to enjoy having him home, but I think I've slipped too far in that direction. I'm making an effort this week to bounce back from the laziness side of the spectrum.

The plan is to set three goals a day (for the time I'm home).

Hopefully, it'll work, and, hopefully, I won't turn into an uptight perfectionist (I think my husband would rather I be lazy).

I believe discipline is biblical. Self-discipline is listed as a Fruit of the Spirit (Galations 5:22) and Paul tells Timothy that God has given him (us) a spirit of self-discipline (2 Timothy 1:7). So, this is not something I need to create in myself, but something there for the using. God has already given it to me.

To practice this skill I've been given, I am blogging (instead of watching Downton Abbey or beading), and I will soon be cleaning the bathroom.

Until next blog (coming soon because I have discipline!),

Jordon