Our Mountain Awaits Us

Over the weekend, Christoph and I went cycling on a sunny and fresh morning before breakfast. Being a cycling enthusiast, he reminded me of his goal of riding up Mount Lofty before we leave Adelaide in October.

Now, I'm all up for challenges - however, when I first heard his idea a month or so ago, an image came to mind. It is after all MOUNT Lofty, as in ...nice steady incline over 20 miles to a hilly mountain range that culminates to a summit. Visions of me red faced, huffing and puffing, like scenes from The Little Engine That Could, playing over and over in my head. "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can!”.

Admittedly, over the past few weeks, I've been psyching myself up for it. Then, on Saturday morning, as we rode up a [gentle] incline in central Adelaide, I began doubting my abilities to take on Mount Lofty. In fact, instead of facing this graciously, I started hurling criticism at Christoph. I accused him of being irresponsible to cycle up a mountain without 'proper training' (whatever that means????). To his defense, he responded "but I've been cycling all my life". "Yeah, right", I snorted, "If that's the case why don't you just sign up for the Tour de France tomorrow?"

Now, it doesn't take brain surgery to figure out that my behavior was not only totally over-the-top, but what a bitch I was! It's no excuse to say that I hadn't had any breakfast - normally resulting in me being un peu fragile until I get something in my tummy. So, I had to pull up my big girl's pants and do the right thing... apologize.

What was about to transpire, was a profound breakthrough...

When we sat down for breakfast, I looked at Christoph sincerely and apologized for my rude behavior. It was so unfair of me to impose my insecurities onto him. If he was ready and felt certain of his abilities to conquer Mount Lofty, more power to him. Who was I to ridicule his aspirations? Frankly, just then did I recognize the 'smallishness' behavior I displayed moments earlier.

I told him, "Of course, we can cycle up Mount Lofty. After all, it's not about reaching the top, it's about...."

Christoph interrupted. He said, "It's about reaching the bottom. You can't reach the top of the mountain, without first reaching its bottom."

How true this is…

He turned to me and said in his wise and gentle way... "Priscilla, you can stand at the bottom of Mount Disappointment looking up - or you can start climbing Mount Remarkable."

All too often, we create targets that seem out of reach or might require lots of huffing and puffing to get there. We mustn't forget, that if we first see the mountain range in the distance and challenge ourselves to climb it - that's an achievement in itself.

If we go the distance to reach its bottom, then that too is a great achievement.

And if we start the ascent to the summit, at any point along the way - that too is an even greater achievement.

Our journey is the preparation for the mountain that awaits us.

Will it be Mount Disappointment or Mount Remarkable?