“If you don’t climb the mountain, you can’t see the view.”

I lift my eyes to the mountains from whence cometh my help

Harvey Mackay wrote “If you don’t climb the mountain, you can’t see the view.” Phoenix is completely surrounded by mountains. So as I drive about on any given day, those gorgeous mountains are right there. I might add to Mr. Mackay’s words that if you do not even notice the mountains, the gift of beauty and potential goals will completely elude you. Our days and nights are gifts to us all.

As we move through passages in our lives, it can get scary or it can be quite heady, can’t it? As we come around a curve after climbing a mountain, we fully expect a meadow and place to rest and enjoy the view. We expect to be able to say “Ah, that’s done. Now I can relax.” But, sometimes we have made it through THAT challenge, and now we are aware that there are so many more to deal with! It is kind of like that song we sang when we were kids (The bear went over the mountain to see what he could see). He finally gets over the mountain, and sees another mountain. The song then repeats, like a repeating decimal.

On days like that, we sometimes feel overwhelmed and feel like we cannot go on or do not want to go on. But, if we look around us, and back at the path we have just trod, we realize something. We can realize just how far we have traveled. That is a good thing. If we have handled that, we can handle more. God assures us of that, most definitely. But if you do not feel reassured by Him, there is another way to look at it.

Look at it the way we already look at both exercise, and achieving other goals—like fitness, or paying off debt bit by bit. You see, if you have made it up and down those treacherous paths to the new vista, you are strong. You are stronger than you were before that journey began. Since you survived that journey, and gained strength from it, you can handle the next challenge.

If you do not yet feel excited about the next journey…tell yourself that you will be excited. As I tell my students, it’s just a bit of pre-game journeys. You have spent a lifetime preparing. You can do this. Take those first few steps.

What do you tell yourself when you are giving yourself a pep talk? What gets you going so that you take the next challenges and difficulties as guaranteed ways to give you strength and confidence if you just ‘give it a go’?

What challenges do you face today and this weekend? As for me, there are areas of my life where I need to have more faith in Him, and let go of my worries! Let’s carpe diem today and this weekend. A journey awaits each of us. We’ve GOT this.

i love to go a-wandering along the mountain paths, and as i go i love to sing, my backpack on my back