Timothy Byler, DRE
LIFE IS AN UPHILL BATTLE! We know the old cliché. Our parents would tell us, “When I was your age, I walked to school, through the snow, through the sleet and rain, through the mud, uphill, BOTH WAYS!” It was a jovial caution to stop complaining about your circumstances. In my case, my circumstance was getting up early and standing at the bus stop. On my kid’s case, it was having to get up early and be chauffeured to school.
With the advantage of hindsight, I sooner or later realized that if I would simply embrace the metaphor, my parents had offered me a broader, undeniable truth - that life is an uphill battle.
In the 90’s, there was a spiritual movement that tied our “struggle” to faith on a different way. The message that resonated from pulpits, from radios, and from televisions was a message that basically taught us, “If you are struggling, you’re not in faith!” Words cannot express how condemning that statement could be to a person who was really in a struggle. To be certain, one could not blame God for your circumstances, but under that teaching, one had to conclude that your circumstances were a direct result of not having enough faith. The struggle is REAL!
The problem wasn’t simply that message. It was also fed by an earlier doctrine. As the old spiritual song declared, “I’m climbing up the rough side of the mountain. I’m doing my best to make it in!” It was a lean toward faith but now made your success in the climb a contingency for salvation. The moral? “Don’t mess up!” No pressure and still incredibly condemnatory. But it made one thing clear: the aide of the mountain is rough!
Gospel artist Witley Phipps told of something his momma would say to him. “If the mountain were smooth, you couldn’t climb it.”
“If the mountain were smooth, you couldn’t climb it.”
The video of that testimony is years old but I heard it for the first time the day before I wrote this. And, that video showing up on my social media was very clearly a gift of God’s love and grace in a personal “uphill moment” I was experiencing. It was the sort of encouragement that a Father offers His son during the struggle. As I contemplated this simple statement, a different complexity came into my view. I had just watched an account of a person who was being led from death row to the electric chair. The director of the film led the audience through the pain of thought process of the individual as he took those long, slow steps down a corridor that seemed to extend for miles. He walked, knowing that these were the last steps he would take on the Earth and that what he was seeing with his eyes was the last thing he would see. THAT was an uphill journey. But then I considered Jesus, as He walked HIS “death walk”. He climbed a hill called Golgotha (the Greek name) or if you prefer, Calvary (the Latin name). And He didn’t simply climb the mountain. He did it after being tried, found innocent by the Roman Governor, turned over in that innocence to the Jewish leaders, beaten until the skin was torn from His body, made to drag a large wooden cross through the streets and THEN climb the mountain to he crucified. History made the outcome clear. The climb wasn’t the end of the story. The climb was the process to victory!
After my lightning strike experience in 2018, I was on a vacation and had the opportunity to scale a climbing wall. I previously had never had an urge to attempt this but in the moment, I saw it as an opportunity to “test my mettle” and challenge my recovery. They have the “easy wall” and the “challenge wall”. This is me. Bypass the easy wall and go for the challenge wall. I lasted about 2 minutes that seemed like fifteen. A third of the way up, and I fell away, lowered back to the ground by the belayer - defeated. The young lady who was tending the wall didn’t gouge me for money. Instead she saw something inside of me and said, “It’s slow right now. Let’s try something,” and put me on the beginner wall. As I scaled that wall, I didn’t change any techniques. Find a toehold and places to grip. Navigate your way through and climb to the top. Up I went, and I made it. SUCCESS! Then she said, “Okay Sir Edmund (her mocking humor comparing my recent success with mountain conquerer, Sir Edmund Hillary).” “Back to the big wall!”
“I’m good,” I replied. “I just wanted to see if I could do it.”
“Don’t you want to see if you can do this one?” she challenged.
“No, I returned. “I already know that one is too much for me.” It something in her challenge got to me. Maybe it stroked my male ego. Maybe it just pushed my button. But up I went. I made it three quarters of the way before I lost my grip and had to be lowered back to the ground. I advanced but was still defeated. She said, “See. You did good!” - Ummm, Thanks.
The next day. I walked past the same spot and she said, “ Wanna try one more time?” After a few minutes of conversation, she talked me into it. This time I made it to the top! The earlier climbs prepared me for the bigger climb. I knew that. We all know that. But in the moment, we tend to dismiss that.
YOU KNOW THAT! Hold onto that thought! Life is full of uphill battles. It is full of mountains that need to be climbed. The journey on those mountains is not smooth. The mountain is rough. But, it is rough for a reason, because it is the rough places that give you the hand holds and toe holds necessary for the climb. Each of those represents a place to advance, a place to rest for a moment, get your breath and summon your strength, a place to return to if you need to reassess, and most importantly, a place from which to push onward. Success isn’t simply achieved by completing the goal. It is measured by who you become AS you complete the goal. Don’t give up. Don’t yield to discouragement. Scripture teaches us to find the value in everything. Find the value in the rough spots. They are tools to help you on to victory!
