I know someone who climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro. I asked her if it was hard. She said it was hardest thing she’d ever done. Oxygen was low. Altitude sickness was awful. She completed the climb. She got a t-shirt that says she climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and wears it proudly.
I went to an Eagle Scout Ceremony a few weeks ago. 11 students got their Eagle Awards. At that ceremony they asked everyone who was an Eagle Scout to stand up. Only a handful of people in the crowd stood up. They said that something like only 4% of those who start scouting get to the rank of Eagle Scout.
I ran the Boston Marathon a few years back. It was the hardest thing I’d ever done. The last couple of miles it felt like someone dropped a piano on my back. I knew it would be painful going in. It was. It hurt. I have a Boston marathon certificate with a medal hanging in my office
It’s funny, but I’ve never seen anybody wearing a shirt that says they went for a 2 mile walk in the woods. At the Eagle Scout Ceremony they didn’t ask the 96% of us who were once Cub Scouts to stand up. I don’t have a certificate and a medal in my office that says I went for a 3 mile jog last week. Do you know why? Because nobody celebrates doing easy stuff. We celebrate doing hard stuff. Climbing mountains; becoming an Eagle Scout; running marathons; these are hard things. Nobody sets out to achieve an easy goal and then announces to the world that they accomplished it. Hard stuff is the most rewarding stuff. We’re proud when we’ve endured and experienced a sense of victory.
Romans 8:18 states- I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.
Sometimes we need to be reminded that the hard things that we are encountering have the potential for the greatest blessings. Whatever you are struggling with, suffering through, bearing the burden of right now, remember that your present suffering is not worth comparing to the glory that may be just around the corner. God promises us that glory awaits us when we suffer. How, when and where we will experience that glory no one can say but if we can endure, there’s the promise and hope of something better ahead. May God bless you with his glory as you climb the mountains in your life.
