I am a flatlander. 100%.
A few weeks ago, while hiking up from somewhere in the Grand Canyon, I realized this fact.
Two and a half miles felt like twenty. My lungs were burning; craving the oxygen that they weren't receiving (I have spoiled them for the last twenty-three years with sea level, O2 rich, breathable air). My legs were shaking and my muscles were screaming.
Unfortunately, another couple factors came into play that didn't help my situation.
A) I am not a camel. Which means, I must carry my water with me - because I drink A LOT of it.
B) I have an incessant need to photograph EVERYTHING. Therefore, my camera comes with me, too. It weighs about 5 pounds.
Now, how do you suppose I bring all this junk? That's right. A pack.
Of course, the whole flatlander thing wasn't really a thought when I started out. Dehydration and lack of memory capture while hiking in the Grand Canyon was.
About 2 hrs later, while halfway back up the canyon, with my 2 liters of water and 5 pound camera loaded on my back, I got thinking....
"What kind of ridiculousness is this?!"
Of course, I would never in a million years voice that (although I might have mentioned "misery" in passing at one point during the hike...). Pride has a way of keeping your mouth shut in these circumstances most of the time..
However, voicing it wasn't necessary. My brother looked back from the position he'd stopped at about 100 feet in front up and said:
"You're going really slow."
Ugh. Was it that obvious?
Well, a few minutes later, he turned around again..
"Tracy, let me carry your pack," he told me.
In order to try to keep some semblance of my dignity, I half-heartedly refused.
"No, I brought it, I'll carry it." - which of course got me nowhere, because before I knew it I had been spun around and the pack was off my shoulders and onto his and he had resumed his effortless hike up the trail.
Gosh darn him.
I half-glared and half-smiled as I continued along behind him....
...The weight of the pack gone from my shoulders.
I do that a lot. Carry unnecessary baggage. By myself.
I try to fix circumstances in my own life through my own self discipline or my own will. Thinking that determination alone is going to get me through....
Instead, what just ends up happening is that I'm miserably hiking up an endless slope with weight I don't have to carry. Weight that, if I were to hand it over, would be gladly rested on the shoulders of my Savior.
I always think, "God, I got myself into this mess. I'll get myself out." Simply because I don't want to bother Him with some situation I feel I've created.
Well, just because I've loaded the pack, doesn't mean He isn't willing to carry it.
After all, His shoulders are stronger than mine. His lungs are used to the thin air.
You know, after Andy took my pack, I was able to hike to the top a lot faster.
So hand over the pack. Let go of the pride. You still have to hike...
...but the weight is gone.
"let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us." ~ Hebrews 12:1
