Rock Wall to Heaven?

Welcome (back) to my blog dear reader! I am so glad you are here. 😄 I hope you enjoy your time here.

On my Instagram a couple of days ago I posted a poll about whether or not I should skip this week or just make a mini post. Obviously, since you’re reading this, mini post won.

Over the weekend I was visiting my aunt, uncle and cousin for my cousin’s First Holy Eucharist. It is a huge deal and I was so glad I could celebrate the occasion with him. Sunday afternoon before heading home I went with my family to a rock climbing gym for the first time.

Anyone who knows me well knows I am not scared of heights but deathly afraid of failure and public embarrassment. So, in a very public setting where there is infinite potential to mess up, what could go wrong? Well, a lot of things could have gone wrong obviously. But what I was not expecting was the mind-blowing-ness of what went right.

First of all, I made it to the top of two separate routes. Whoo hoo! Go me! They were beginner routes but still. While I was climbing I learned the Stairway to Heaven, is actually a rock wall. Sorry Led Zeppelin. The first route I tried was the lowest possible difficulty. What I was not expecting was how incredibly hard it was to pull my own body weight up the wall. Kinda like life. We see what we have to do and it seems so simple to go through our day and get things done. But we start and it is so hard.

The second route I tackled was slightly harder but a different pattern of holds. I made it halfway, got stuck and almost completely lost my footing. So I called for my uncle to hold the rope steady so I could reset. I pushed off the wall a little bit, sitting in the harness. I studied the holds I had been using and the ones above them. I found the path. I gritted my teeth, ignored the burning pain in my shoulders and hauled myself all the way to the top. Again, it is like our lives. We have a spiritual battle that threatens to knock us down. But when we stop and take a moment to examine ourselves through prayer we can make it to the top.

I tried a third route but the holds were too far apart for my tiny limbs to reach and I only got halfway. But I still tried. Failure is merely a lesson that helps us the next time we try. Which, I applied to the final route I tried. Again, it was not a difficult route but as it was my first time, I studied it carefully before beginning. I chalked my hands more thoroughly and kept moving. I made it to the top. Now, whenever I face a challenge in my life, spiritual or otherwise I have new lessons to apply. All thanks to rock climbing. Who would have thought? Just another example of finding the beauty in the crazy. 😄

I hope y’all liked this mini post. I might do more of these in the future. ☀️💙