Just Over The Next Mountain
We took far too many clothes, thinking that it would be much cooler. I don't know how much my pack weighed going in; coming out it was more than 50 pounds.
Being the oldest member of the expedition, the trip out of the valley was almost too much for me. We had to climb about 600 feet in a quarter-mile. There was no trail, and the hillside was steep with lots of briars. And it was warm...too warm. I struggled under my load and stumbled often.
The hill had many small plateaus and was arranged in such a fashion that I could not tell how much further I had to go. From each plateau I could see the edge of the next and would think that the summit was surely just ahead.
But upon reaching that next plateau, another would present itself as a new, formidable challenge. One plateau seemed to follow another in a continuing stream of struggles that eventually exhausted me.
I finally made a decision. I had to quit looking at how much further I had to go because it discouraged me. Instead, an occasionally backward glance assured me that I was making some progress toward my goal.
These notes from my journal several years ago describe a stressful situation in which I found myself. And though I learned a valuable lesson, I'm sorry to report that it keeps recurring. Only the circumstances change. I still get discouraged when I see nothing but difficulties on the horizon. One giant is conquered, but another immediately steps in to take his place.
Another journal entry confirms this: "This has been a very difficult week, the hardest I have ever had physically. My surgery went well, and I was home by noon. Then the trouble started. I must have been nauseated from the anesthesia and couldn't even tolerate water. And my pain was so intense that I had to return to the hospital." So large at the time, this awful giant is just an unpleasant memory today.
In looking back, many challenges would have been even more formidable had I dwelt on them. But I did manage to graduate from high school...and college. My wife and I have stayed married for 32 years. We have buried one child and have worked through both the "terrible two's" and most of the teenage years of another.
The list could go on, but point should be clear. Problems are inescapable, but dwelling on them will surely bring defeat. In this life there is no Utopia just over the next mountain. But an occasional backward glance to see where we've come from will help affirm that even that next mountain can be conquered.
Copyright 1999 James McAlister
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