Steps

My friend Ryan shared an observation of his to me a while back. He said it's easier to go down the stairs than it is to get up. But he noted that going down the stairs (or a hill) has more impact on our joints and knees than climbing up. Climbing up, on the other hand, has low impact and does more for our health by exercising our legs and cardio-vascular system.

He is using this as a metaphor for decisions. Going down is "the wrong way." Going wayward. Climbing up is "the right way," although you struggle and you wheeze and when you get to the top you puff and puff for breath only to look up and see there's more climbing to do and much farther to go.

The few times I climbed a mountain--the rock marble peak where I almost died at Lapus-Lapus Beach came to mind (that is also where I got baptized, so from near-death experience to a declaration of new life)--I remember the exhilaration of reaching the top. There's also a certain peace. You get clearheaded on a mountain peak.

Paul said, "Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up" (Galatians 6.9).

During the times in my life I were going down (the wrong way), I hit rock bottom. In that proverbial place there's "no where to go but up." So it's not altogether a bad place because there I found the hand of God restoring me. It's only sad when we refuse to be helped and decide to stay in the bottom. Wallowing in self-pity has its charm and shadowy reward.

So whether you're climbing up or going down, it can be good because you're going someplace, discovering the world and yourself. Theodore Roethke said, "I learn by going where I have to go." If you think about this you become open-minded and open-hearted.You don't judge people you meet on your journey. Some are going up, some are going down, some are traveling alongside you, some go slower, others speed past you. It's okay. The important thing to know is we are all learning by going where we have to go, whether consciously or not.

But when you're on your journey and your tired and you gotta sit it out for a while, do so! Learn from the people passing by. Some would love to tell stories. You learn from storytellers who write their stories down for us, from actors who show us how human we are, from poets who show us how deeply we can penetrate life. You simply sat and rested, the way Nature does during winter. You get lessons from the outside, you process and learn from the inside. So then when you continue on your journey both your body and mind is refreshed.

Now whether you are resting or going on your journey, pray. Connect with the God who made the mountain you're in and the legs that carry you and the oxygen that fills your lungs. Pray and listen. God loves to talk to us.

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Okay, I thought I should post one blog each day. It used to be I waited till I get a shimmering insight before I posted it here. Now I think, hey, it's a Blog. People use their blogs for a variety of reasons, even to sell their wares. Non-writers write on their blogs. People with cameras post their shots and instantly become photographers. Why can't I simply post here whatever is in the moment? I'd love every moment to be filled with meaning, but that's not what happens.

So I'll post here and be dull and boring and wasting cyberspace but at least I'll know I'm alive and my mind is wild and "boring" is just an excuse for fear of the present truth.