Standing on a mountaintops, gazing in awe and wonder at the immensity of the view before my eyes.
Up to this point, my view while climbing the mountain has been one-foot-in-front-of-the-other, only seeing what's closest to me. Birds, trees, tiny plants on the path; the tiny microcosm of my existence at the moment.
The higher I climb, I can catch glimpses of a larger view. A clearing brings an opening into a slightly bigger picture than where I am.
Briefly, the perspective changes. Step after step, I can see not where I am, but what's beyond. My focus is no longer on my steps in front of me, the rocks in my path, the sweat dripping down my spine.
The source of my breathlessness changes...it's no longer from the physical exertion; it's from the realization that something much much bigger is at work here.
There's so much more than what I see! There's so much more TO experience out there!!
The reminder is temporary as the path takes me back into the cover of my own travels.
My mind tries to process, to comprehend.
As I focus my thoughts on the "big-ness" of what I've just seen, it keeps my mind busy, distracted from the minutia of my own path, my walk, my hike.
Before I realize it, I've traveled farther than expected. Because my focus wasn't on me, or what was happening around me, the journey to the mountaintop ended up being much quicker, less painful.
And once I get there, I can now see the even bigger picture. The one where you can't get any higher.
I can look down and see how my hike got me here. I can also see how other's hikes have gotten them to this peak, or even to other peaks.
WOAH.
I have to rest here a while. Take it all in...
I realize sometime later that I have to go back down the mountain, back to my life, the everyday.
The journey back down shows the same views; the same points on the journey that the focus is on just where I'm at, and other points where I can get the broader view.
But this time it's different. I can now see all these points on the journey through the lens of a goal: to share this journey, and all I've learned on the journey, with others.
People who don't think this kind of journey could be for them.
People who don't think they can do it.
People who are on their own journey, maybe stuck in the thickets with blinders on to the
grander views.
People on their journey who may not want to leave the place of the grander views, but
haven't seen what it's like from the top.
I have to share this journey, every bit of it.
From the start: a decision, then one foot in front of the other.
The tough spots, where rocks and obstacles try their best to hold me back.
The alone places, in the middle of the forest, with no end in sight.
The joyous places. When the unexpected happens. Birds singing at odd times. Or the whinny of wild horses.
To the moments that take your breath away. When the trees break open, if only for a moment, to show that this isn't the only mountain in the range.
And the view from the top? Well, that's indescribable.
How you feel so big and so small, all at the same time.
How you perspective is forever changed there.
And from then on, the hike always beckons.
