Overcoming Obstacles

I can remember as a child hearing the elders of my church say that if we had a choice, we would likely choose not to have a hard trial. That’s probably true. I don’t know many people that are all in and ready to suffer. If we truly had a choice between pain and no pain, I think we’d all want a pain free journey.

That’s not life, however. Instead, as we grow wiser, we begin to experience an increasing number of obstacles. This often takes my mind back to school days. When I was younger, I enjoyed learning, primarily because I picked up the lessons quickly and got to spend my days socializing with school friends. As I grew up, that perspective began to shift because more was expected of me. School wasn’t just a place of socialization, I had to get good grades to proceed to the next. I had to show that I was retaining all that input with quizzes, tests, and exams. The pressure felt like it was mounting the more I learned. 

By the time I got to high school, I had a little more choice in my journey. When I first arrived as a freshman, however, my prior exams landed me in honors classes. I had to work. Hard. So when it came time for me to choose courses for my sophomore year, you better believe I chose all standard courses. That was a great year. I got straight A’s, was on the honor roll, and the work was easy. My guidance counselor, however, said that I needed a challenge. So the next year, I was placed back in advanced courses. I often think about that experience because I think that it is in our nature to want a smoother journey. But the smooth journey doesn’t necessarily expose us to the lessons we really need to learn.

That’s what obstacles are for. When they creep up in our path, will we journey on, change course, or turn around and give up? A few weeks ago, I was outside of my church and strolling through the parking lot as I took a phone call. I began to absentmindedly push a few rocks that made up the gravel around with my shoe. One of those rocks was in the path of a caterpillar. As I wrapped up my call, I watched this caterpillar pause for the briefest of seconds at the sudden obstacle. It then navigated around the rock and continued on its journey. 

I gained so much encouragement from that little caterpillar that went on about its business, undisturbed by me pushing rocks all over the place. If only we could also embody the same single-minded determination to keep journeying. It’s about like those Hurdlers or Steeplechase runners. They leap over the obstacles without losing a step. That’s how we should embrace life’s stormy season. We know the challenges will come. But instead of lying in wait and ruminating over how difficult it will be, we have to develop a mindset that our goal is more important than the hurdle in front of us. Now is the time for us to leap like our lives depends on it.

Stay Sunny!

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