So I was watching some kids go sledding this morning. It was a beautiful day for it. It was cold enough to get the ears red, but not so cold as to make your lungs burn when you breathe in deeply. It wasn't very windy and the big flakes were gently coming down slow and steady. The white on the ground was perfect for making snowballs or making sleds go fast. The only thing that wasn't perfect was the so called "hill" these kids were sledding on. Top to bottom at Rec park probably took them three seconds max.
To be fair, there aren't many other hills in the area to chose from. Westside Binghamton and Johnson City aren't called "the flats" for no reason. I spent my childhood in Syracuse and we knew hills. For a long time I lived on Stafford Ave about a half mile north of Burnett St. That half mile was all uphill. I remember running downhill as a warm up, then doing the "triangle" (Burnett to James to Thompson back to Burnett), then running back up the hill as a finish to my 5-6 mile run. Looking back now, I guess I was a bit of a sadist as a kid, wasn't I?
It did run in the family, though. My dad coached soccer, basketball, and track for Faith Heritage and he had a perverse love for Ballentyne Hill. I'm wondering how many FHS alumni reading this just let out a groan as I dredge up memories you tried hard to repress. I can still remember him yelling, "C'mon! Push through! Lift those knees!" My vision gets blurry and my knees get wobbly but I desperately try to sprint to the top knowing that if I stop partway up this one won't "count" towards my predetermined allotment of pain.
But the biggest hill I ever went sledding on was at a Sectional Royal Ranger campout. I think it was somewhere south of Syracuse. Nedro Tully Now those areas have some real hills. This small mountain that we used for our suicide runs took, without exaggeration, at least 20-30 minutes to climb. The going down afterward, though wow. It was so worth it.
The thing is, I only made it to the top once or twice. After a very short while we got a game going where people marching up the hill would randomly turn around, jump on their sleds, and try to knock over people coming up the hill behind them. (What else would you expect from a few dozen poorly supervised pre adolescent boys?) Anyways, the real reason we were playing this game was because nobody wanted to put in the effort into climbing all the way to the top. It was just too much work.
Sometimes the Christian life seems a bit like that, doesn't it? Don't get me wrong, there is definitely a joy to our life that others will never really know until they have tasted it. But at other times, the process of sanctification might seem like a long, wet, wearying, walk uphill. Sometimes it is so tempting to just cut loose and slide backwards. Yes, it may seem like a brief moment of fun, but when its over and I see how much ground I've lost, there is nothing but regrets.
Am I just talking about myself or are there others who feel the same way? If so, let me encourage you. When you feel like the walk is no more than difficult drudgery, don't stop. Don't cut loose. Don't let yourself slide backwards. Instead listen. You can almost hear your heavenly Father, your spiritual coach, calling out, "C'mon. Push through. Lift those eyes." Though we are experiencing momentary difficulties just remember, in the end it will be worth it all. So keep on walking.
