By H.A.
The summit looked so far as it played peek-a-boo through the morning mist.
It always does at the start of the journey.
But H.A. was experienced enough to know that if you keep looking up at the summit, it was easy to get discouraged.
The point was to start; one step at a time.
So, he took a deep breath of the crisp morning air. It filled his lungs. He could almost feel the clean oxygen moving into his muscles, invigorating them as he took his first steps of the day. He breathed out, making room to take in whatever lay before him.
He wasn’t starting blind. He knew the day would be hard. That peak was high, and he’d scaled enough mountains to know that it would be no easy ride. But his mind was set, he and his team had decided that they would reach the summit today.
With that resolve he set out towards the goal, step by step. Some steps were harder than others. Starting out on level ground, the steps came easy. Placing one foot in front of the other, he had enough extra energy to look around, appreciate the grass, the trees, the occasional small critter that scurried by, even exchange a few words with his teammates.
As the incline grew, he could feel the strain on his muscles.
At times, even placing one foot in front of the other pushed him to his limits. He enlisted extra support from his arms as they pushed against his walking sticks to pull his weight up against the pull of gravity. Sweat drenched the collar of his jacket and the rim of his cap. No one was talking anymore.
When you are going up, it only gets harder as you get closer to your goal.
As his body cried out for relief, and even his mind tried to break free from the commitment to reach the top, he found focus in a surprising place: his breathing.
Deep breath in, deep breath out.
Even when everything wanted to give in and give up, he could focus on keeping up this small, consistent act.
Deep breath in, deep breath out.
Just as his first deep breath in the morning, he could feel his breathing keep the rest of his struggling system oxygenated.
Deep breath in, deep breath out.
As he kept control of his breathing, the rest of his body fell into rhythm with his breath, almost like cruise control.
Deep breath in, deep breath out.
His mind calmed down and also fell into the rhythm of taking in air and breathing it out. He began again to see the world around him: the fresh air, the small vegetation, the shale on the side of the mountain. Only now he saw them clearer, he saw the relationships that tied everything together, including his presence.
Deep breath in, deep breath out.
His heart began to swell with gratitude and wonderment of God’s design of the world as he witnessed how everything was created to thrive in relationship to each other, giving and receiving, just like his breath. This gratitude energized him, and he discovered a new source of energy as he picked up the pace on the final stretch.
Deep breath in, deep breath out.
He put his final steps down as they reached the top of the mountain and the valley opened below.
Ironically, the view revealed all the other peaks that they could challenge if they decided to.
He took another deep breath, taking in the beauty of the scene. As he released his breath, a smile broke his face. They had done it, one step at a time, sustained by his breathing.
Back from the mountain, his experience remains as a powerful reminder that he can take on any peak. But when things get tough, or look intimidating from ground level, he knows to start with the first steps forward – and to focus on his breathing.