Reflection on Ropes

I'm a little bit scared of heights. Not terrified, but they make me nervous. More than that, for some reason, ladders scare me. It's okay to laugh. But really. They do. I can't even climb into my attic because the ladder creaks and moves a little, and it freaks me out..

So yesterday I was at this college retreat, which was awesome, and we did some high ropes. I like to conquer my fears, as shown by the months of therapy to get over my clinical phobia (I call it clinical to let you know it's real. A real, by the book, fits the criteria, phobia) of needles. Which I"m doing much better with. So, because I don't have a phobia of heights, I figured that I should be able to deal with high ropes.

For these ropes, first, you hive to climb up a latter set against a pole. For me, that thing was the scariest part of the whole thing. After you get to the large pole a lot like a telephone pole, you climb up these little stakes. Scary. I know you're strapped into a belay and you totally safe, but it's still scary being up that high. Then, you get to the top.

This ropes course is at a camp on a lake, so it's windy. Really windy at 40 feet high. More than you might expect. From the ground, I could see the poles sway a little in the wind, kinda like the traffic lights do when it's windy. So I knew it was real, and really came to grips with that reality at the top of the course. One of the challenges had you walk across a log with nothing to hold onto, and the other asked you to walk on a wire with a rope to hold onto. Both, to me, are intensely scary looking. But I ended up doing both. And I loved it. (granted, I didn't do the "leap of faith" that required you to stand on this little bitty pole way up in the air and not hold on to anything. no thanks). For the two I did, it stretched me, and it felt great.

I hope that will set the course for this year. Growing, and getting out of my comfort zone to discover the great things that God has for me, even if they look really scary at first. Most of the time, I feel, it's kinda like the ladder problem. For me, the hardest part of the ropes was climbing the ladder (granted, when I got to the top and the wind almost knocked me off, that was intimidating too). Often getting the momentum and jumping into something is the hardest thing to do. But once you get going, you realize, maybe it's not so bad as I expected. Hard, yeah. Scary, sometimes. But worrying about it, and building up that anticipation with fear keeps me from experiencing the life and plans God has for me sometimes.

So I encourage you: whatever your ladder is, whatever fear or habit or issue is holding you back or dictating your life, maybe it's time to jump into whatever is beyond it. I think of Hebrews 1:1-2 as it says "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith".

This new year, particularly, I've been thinking about being refreshed, and renewed by God, but this is true for anytime. It's time to stop setting my standards to be like everyone else, and let God change me into ME. I want to be who He created me to me, not anyone else.

"Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will." -Romans 12:1-2