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