Big Mountain, Small Steps

Has a painting or a photo of nature ever snagged you to stand still and imagine where that path leads or who might walk that path?

In recent years, we have travelled some interesting paths; some have been very isolated while others have been bustling with travelers. There are times when we pause briefly to chat with those around us and discover they live in the surrounding villages or towns.  

In other countries, on a path, some locals stop us and chat, noticing that we walk among the many pilgrims walking the Camino route to Santiago, Spain or through Tuscany on the Via Francigena, a historic route stretching from Canterbury, England all the way to Rome, Italy. 

In their beautiful accents, they share a snapshot of ancient stories about their past and then bid us Buen Camino! or Bon Viaggio! with a friendly wave. One story in particular has stayed with us. 

We were walking a stunning stretch of the Via Francigena through Tuscany, midday on Day 3 when a private gate opened and a lovely, sparkling clean couple stepped out and greeted us. It was unusually hot that afternoon, and we were predictably dusty at that time of the day! Their accents revealed they were from the UK or Australia, but we knew better than to make which assumption. 

Our accents revealed we were Americans, and they paused to open a conversation to share they were from London. (We were happy for that disclosure early on!) They were going our way up the hill and walked along with us.We asked them about their lifestyle in London, and they spoke of their children and their retirement years. They escape London's summer months and vacation in Tuscany.  Eventually, we arrived at a small village and found a shady spot to rest and continue to chat. We were carrying our backpacks and probably wearing clothes we had just pulled from wear the day before. Now, we were face to face with a spick-and-span couple with Downton Abby accents, yet they wanted to walk with us and hear about the reason for our pilgrimage. 

 

     We shared, "The stages of the VF offer us quiet and serene walking days with hours of together conversation. We make plans while walking, admire the Creator's handiwork and solve problems. We laugh about everything and rest on stone walls to eat our snacks. We pray through the day, and we visit with nice people like you."

    

    She answered, "Don't we all need days filled with laughter and rest? Everyone has hills to climb."

   

     I found that comment most interesting - 'We all have hills to climb' and responded, "Yes, and these Tuscan hills have been quite a challenge for us. The elevation is sometimes endless!"

  

      "We hike in England, and we have a saying, Big Mountain, Small Steps. We always reach the top with that strategy." She smiled. 

    

We took a few sips of our water and wished each other well as we continued on up that endless Tuscan hill.     

We will never meet that couple again, but too many times to count, we have quoted "Big Mountain, Small Steps" as we encounter some mountains that seem unsurmountable midway up. Since then, we have applied that strategy to both spiritual and daily challenges. They were from England and we were from America, and, providentially, our experiences overlapped within a third country. 

At the end of that long day, after our visit to a lavandería automatica, after bellies full of fresh pasta and warm bread, now spick-and-span clean, I sat at a desk in our room and wrote the English couple's quote in my journal. 

Do you have a mountain that seems insurmountable?

"I will lift up my eyes to the mountains - where does my help come from?  

My help comes from the Lord, Maker of heaven and earth." (Psalm 121:1-2)

Keep Looking Up!

  J:m and L:nda

 

All Trails

Pile of rocks

 

~Good bye, 2020!  You have left us with no option but to show you the door and bid you adieu, adios, so long, bon voyage, and sayonara! 

Never to meet again, and don't come back!  

We are joining the world to welcome in 2021, and we are all praying (even if you don't have a prayer history) that 2021 will show us favor.  If you are a Believer, let's pray that God will show 2021 favor;  thereby, bestowing blessings upon all the world.  

You understand that to which we are referring: that beastly COVID-19.  We are showing you the door!  Beat it, scram, don't look back!  

~We are looking forward!  Forward to 2021 with all its new possibilities.

Perhaps we need something like an All Trails app to help us navigate through 2021.  We use this app for the trails we hike in Arizona.  It's amazing! When we select a trailhead, the app immediately coughs up directions, elevation gain, route type, hike classification, reviews, weather for the day, and more!  Wow! 

Follow the path to your destination

~Imagine for a moment what this could mean if we could download an app for 2021 that could "help us know the details before we go," or "keep us from ever getting lost," or "keep a list of the places that inspired us as well as a list of places to NEVER go again," or "take us on new adventures - to places we would otherwise never go."  We could name it the "Life in the Hand" app. Without a doubt, that would be the most popular app in all of technology history.  It would be the coolest app, the trending one, and a big market for global users, who, by the way, downloaded 204 billion apps in 2019 alone, a statistic which has increased by at least 6% in 2020.  With this type of insight, "Life in the Hand" app would not be free;  people would pay!  We know the reason for this popularity, right? People want to know before they go. 

~It would become our "Oh, the Places You'll Go! guide.  

(Dr. Seuss)  We would not have to second guess suggestions from friends, neighbors, co-workers, doctors, pastors, or counselors.  That app would be our "walk by sight, not by faith" guide.  We would rarely make a mistake so rarely learn anything.  We would rarely use intuition so critical thinking becomes obsolete.  We would never take risks so courage dies.  

~As long as we could pull up that app; you know, access "Life in the Hand," life would be copacetic.

Unfortunately, a problem with our All Trails app occurs when we reach areas where there is no internet.  Stop right there.  If we walk by sight, we might select a deviating path - one that takes away from the right way, away from our intended goal. That's when we need intuition and nature's sun!  We have done this before. We have had to turn around and retrace our route.  We have lost time.  It is then that we spot something that we had overlooked: the white arrow or the pile of rocks. We learned from our mistake.  It's easy to get lost and can be a costly mistake for some.  

~April Fools in 2020!  There is no "Life in the Hand" app.  Too many times to count, we must "walk by faith, not by sight" because we can't always trust sight.  There are times when things are not as they seem. There are diverting paths that seem to be right.

~Personally, we are walking more by faith in 2021 than by sight. It will be by faith that we seek the Way and by faith that we will see God's guiding hand, His white arrows and His pile of rocks.  "...choose you this day (this 2021) whom you will serve; ...but as for me and my house (us), we will serve the Lord."

And, we all will have good stories to share on our FB app.

God Bless 2021!

Thank you for reading our blog!

Keep Looking Up!

J:m and L:nda