Climbing Challenges and the Buddy System

Are you a climber?

If given a choice, do you take the elevator or the stairs?

Like many people, I have a job where I sit in front of a computer all day. Then I return home to either sit in my home office and write, or in front of the TV with my laptop so I can catch up on e-mail.

All that inactivity isn’t healthy, but it’s often difficult to work-out when we’re tired and feeling various responsibilities pressing in on us.

My oldest daughter and I work for the same company and department. Last Monday we decided, along with another coworker, to become stair buddies. Twice a day we hike down to the lowest parking garage and then climb nine flights of stairs to the fifth floor where our office is located. While I catch my breath, the other two twenty- somethings run up and down several additional floors.

It’s a great workout - combining cardio and weight training – and we feel exhilarated when finished.

I'll admit, the last several flights of stairs are difficult to complete. My thighs burn and my breathing becomes labored. My hope is that it will soon get easier and I’ll be able to hike up to the seventh floor without huffing and puffing.

Even as much as we mentally want to climb those stairs, we’ve admitted that we wouldn’t continue to be disciplined or motivated without our buddies. Without encouragement, it would be easy to quit. Because it’s hard. And because it hurts.

Sometimes we face situations in our lives where it feels like we’re climbing not just stairs, but mountains. The next level may appear insurmountable. We may become weary and tired of pain. And we may want to just give up.

That’s when we need our friends – our climbing buddies – to come along beside us with encouragement. Reassuring us that we can make it if we just keep going.

I have buddies like that. Friends who stay with me during a rough time and then celebrate wiht me when I reach the peak of a personal mountain. Do you?

God is also with us, whispering in our ear, “You can do it. I’m here. I’ll help you.” Do you hear Him?

If we’re open to it, God will use us to physically represent Him to someone who is facing a tough climb. Do you know someone who could use a climbing buddy today? Will that be you?

Dawn