Life on the Trail - Pace

I remember one of the guides on our backpacking trip continuing to say to me and a few of the other “macho” high school students, “It’s not a race up the mountain. Slow down. You need to enjoy the hike.”

He was right. If I took the time to pace myself and look around, I saw a whole lot more than when I was focused on getting up to the top. There was so much to see. Every 25 yards, there was a different view. If I looked around, I had the chance to see all sorts of different angles of God’s creation.

It’s easy to get focused on getting where you think you need to go. I have the same problem in the car. I get completely focused on the car ahead of me and concentrate on getting to my destination as fast as possible. It’s like I rush to rest. If I hurry and get there quickly, I can rest and not worry about driving anymore. If I can get up the trail quickly, I can rest, have a snack, and put my pack down. But it is as if the entire journey to the top had no value. It was just a way to get to the rest. I stopped looking at the hike as part of the experience but instead looked at it as the burden I had to endure in order to enjoy the breaks. I basically denied any of the value of the time between the breaks.

How true is that today? We live for Friday – Sunday. We live for vacations. We live for 5pm and on. It’s as if Monday – Friday, the time between our next vacation and our ‘workday’ have no significant value. We just need to “endure” so we can enjoy.

But what I learned on the trail was that often the time on the trail was some of the most meaningful time. When I stopped rushing and began to focus on what was around me, I started experiencing the benefits of the journey not just the destination. Most importantly, I started to enjoy the gifts of the people who I hiked with. It became a time to listen to their stories – to find out more about what matters to them – to ask them how they are doing (not just on the trail but overall). Even though we’d get occasionally winded and our bodies definitely did not always feel great, we began to focus on each other instead of the struggle. What a difference that made on the experience.

Some people say, “Stop and smell the roses” or “Find the joy in the journey.” Whatever works for you, I’d encourage you to consider the moment you are in as one in which God desires to express love and encourage joy. In essence, I think sometimes God is trying to say to me, “Chip, you are never going to arrive in this life. Stop rushing and pushing and beating yourself up for not getting as far as you want. When you hurry, you tend to make a mess and you tend to miss out on what I’m trying to show you and share with you RIGHT NOW. Stop blocking my joy by determining yourself when it will come.” Aren’t we guilty of this so often. “I’m going to be happy when . . .” We fool ourselves into thinking that a weekend activity or vacation or television show will finally bring us that contentment we seek. Yet God says, “No, contentment and joy and peace are found ON THE PATH, not when you take a break or think you will arrive once this or that happens.

How many times have my wife and son been within four feet of me in the car, and I totally ignore them and the opportunity to connect with them because I am so concerned with getting to our destination. It’s become a joke now in our family. We can go hours without speaking because Dad can’t focus on anything else. I want that to change. I want to enjoy the people I’m with, care for them, invest in them, and make them the priority regardless of where I’m at on the trail. I believe that is what Jesus did. He never seemed to hurry. He never seemed to see people as distractions. I definitely have a lot to learn.