the past few weeks i've got to do a good bit of hiking. two weeks ago i took a group from claremore, oklahoma up pike's peak. we drove up a ways, but hiked to the peak from about 3 miles below. yesterday i finished a week of adventure camp by going up mt. lincoln. both were stellar hikes. i took this picture from a boulderfield on pike's peak. these sorts of piles of rocks are called cairns, something i've come to appreciate and think highly of. they're intended to mark trails were trails aren't easy to spot. on most high peaks above treeline trails are hard to form and even harder to follow, so these sorts of rock piles came about as a way to mark the best way to go. they're a pretty cool thing, really, considering that they're maintained by hikers as a courtesy for the next person to come along. i like to add a rock when i see one, as a way to appreciate those who have done so before, and to help others who might come along later. once i was hiking alone near long's peak and came to a stretch where i could not find any trail to speak of. it was a bit scary and i thought for a while that i was lost in the middle of nowhere. luckily these cairns popped up and marked a portion where it was necessary to constantly switch back and forth through the forest up a slope. this carried on for over an hour. i followed these as a way to know when to turn. when i would find one, i would look for another and know the right direction. without them i would have been in a mess.
my thoughts have lead me to think of these sorts of guides as a good way to think about our life of faith. it would be nice sometimes to just go about our business and not worry about investing in other people's journey. it's easier not to, really... but i've come to realize that without the cairns that mentors and other people have set out for me to follow, i would have many times lost the trail. it's as though they added rocks to the guide marks that others left for them, and now i have the responsibility and honor to perhaps do the same for others. i think we'd all be pretty lost without the body of Christ, despite all our imperfections and flaws. i'm pretty good at being critical sometimes of the trail that has been set out before me by the Church, but i need to remember that without it i would be wandering lost though unknown forests without direction. i still lose the trail sometimes, but am thankful for the piles of rocks that my heroes and friends have left for me to use as a direction and guide. i guess i just really want to be the sort of person who adds a rock or two to those piles so others can see the trail even better than i first did.
the past few weeks i've got to do a good bit of hiking. two weeks ago i took a group from claremore, oklahoma up pike's peak. we drove up a ways, but hiked to the peak from about 3 miles below. yesterday i finished a week of adventure camp by going up mt. lincoln. both were stellar hikes. i took this picture from a boulderfield on pike's peak. these sorts of piles of rocks are called cairns, something i've come to appreciate and think highly of. they're intended to mark trails were trails aren't easy to spot. on most high peaks above treeline trails are hard to form and even harder to follow, so these sorts of rock piles came about as a way to mark the best way to go. they're a pretty cool thing, really, considering that they're maintained by hikers as a courtesy for the next person to come along. i like to add a rock when i see one, as a way to appreciate those who have done so before, and to help others who might come along later. once i was hiking alone near long's peak and came to a stretch where i could not find any trail to speak of. it was a bit scary and i thought for a while that i was lost in the middle of nowhere. luckily these cairns popped up and marked a portion where it was necessary to constantly switch back and forth through the forest up a slope. this carried on for over an hour. i followed these as a way to know when to turn. when i would find one, i would look for another and know the right direction. without them i would have been in a mess.
my thoughts have lead me to think of these sorts of guides as a good way to think about our life of faith. it would be nice sometimes to just go about our business and not worry about investing in other people's journey. it's easier not to, really... but i've come to realize that without the cairns that mentors and other people have set out for me to follow, i would have many times lost the trail. it's as though they added rocks to the guide marks that others left for them, and now i have the responsibility and honor to perhaps do the same for others. i think we'd all be pretty lost without the body of Christ, despite all our imperfections and flaws. i'm pretty good at being critical sometimes of the trail that has been set out before me by the Church, but i need to remember that without it i would be wandering lost though unknown forests without direction. i still lose the trail sometimes, but am thankful for the piles of rocks that my heroes and friends have left for me to use as a direction and guide. i guess i just really want to be the sort of person who adds a rock or two to those piles so others can see the trail even better than i first did.
No comments:
Post a Comment