For our 6th anniversary Christy and I went to Palm Springs. It wasn’t because there was anything particularly awesome to do there, we just wanted to get away for a day or two without spending a lot of money. The biggest highlight was taking the tram up to the top of the mountain and stomping around in a different world above the desert floor. Christy is pregnant after all and stomping around isn’t the same these days as it used to be, but it was fun. After a while we made our way back to the mountain station and grabbed a bench in the shade and watched people go by for about an hour.
As we watched one person really grabbed my attention. She was so determined to do the hard thing - I could tell. She didn’t want to remain unchallenged her whole life and was not going to let an obstacle stop her. If I were to guess I would say she was about 2. She was at the bottom of a long set of stairs and she was working hard to climb them on her own. Her dad was patient with her for a while but then grabbed her to carry her the rest of the way. She passionately objected to this and I could see why -
She wasn’t content to stay where she was. She was determined to grow, to meet the challenge before her and overcome it. She wanted to do the hard thing. What a great quality we have when we are 2. We have a DRIVE to push ourselves beyond what we can do and aren’t easy scared if its too hard. I think any parent can testify to the fact that kids are pretty determined to ‘do it themselves’.
I don’t have any little ones in the outside world yet, so I can have objective perspectives on 2 year olds. And I have to say that I really appreciate their drive. What if we all had that drive still. The drive to press on even when its hard - to do the hard thing because its hard. What if we pursued our spiritual lives with such ambition.
Wow, wouldn’t that be cool!
