Discovering Prayer Up in the Air When I was young, my favorite activity was hiking. I’d pride myself in my speed and agility racing down steep trails while maintaining balance and control. We always stayed on the lookout for new discoveries. Like the explorers Lewis and Clark, I was anxious to see what might lie around the next bend, and would occasionally risk life and limb to find out. It was during one such adventure when I offered my first prayer to powers greater than my own. While exploring a way to climb above a waterfall and reach the canyon beyond I spied a steep granite wall that rose about 50 feet above the boulders, it looked challenging but doable. I climbed the wall, rising higher and higher above the canyon floor. This was true free climbing—and an adrenaline rush until it happened. Suddenly, I found myself in a position where I felt I could neither climb higher nor retreat back the way I’d come. So there I was: stuck in the middle of a granite face about 30 feet above the boulders below—with no ropes to lower myself and no one within 10 miles who could come to my rescue. My delusional self-image of being the superhero Spider Man abruptly abated. My heart pounded; beads of sweat popped out on my forehead. It was then I broke the universal rule of climbing: I looked down. Fear seized me. All I could see below were the giant boulders waiting if I were to lose my footing and fall. I looked desperately for the next hand- or foothold. My muscles began to freeze up while I tenaciously clung to the side of the mountain. I finally convinced myself to relax, clear my mind and plead for help from the powers above. Someone up there must have been listening! Moments after my prayer of desperation, a calm came over me as I identified a lower foothold. By stretching my body full out, I was able to reach it. Then I slowly made my way down to the safely of the canyon floor. The lesson taught me when times are turbulent, and we find ourselves turning inward and outward for answers, its essential that we first remember to turn upward toward our Father in Heaven. He knows all our needs before we ask him, but we must first acknowledge and address him in secret, before he will reward us openly.
Posted on: Sat, 03 Jan 2015 16:22:12 +0000
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