I’ve done quite a bit of hiking and climbing in my lifetime. I am more content to stay at lower elevations now, but I’ve been to the top of quite a few peaks.

To get to the top of a mountain, there’s a lot of trudging up a steep trail before you get to heights where it seems you can see the whole world.

 

 

But first, you need to push through lots of ups. You think you’re nearly there and you turn a corner and see there’s lots more upward trail to go. You have a choice. You can go on toiling up. You can stop where you are and take a seat. You can turn around and miss the top. If you choose one of  the last two choices, you’ll be disappointed. You will have missed the fabulous view at the top.

I have to be honest with you. The news doesn’t seem to bring much hope. The images are disturbing. The Virus is still around. There is anger and destruction.

Today, I turned to one of my favorite passages in the New Testament. Romans 8:26-28 MSG.

Meanwhile, the moment we get tired in the waiting, God’s Spirit is right alongside helping us along. If we don’t know how or what to pray, it doesn’t matter. He does our praying in and for us, making prayer out of our wordless sighs, our aching groans. He knows us far better than we know ourselves, knows our pregnant condition, and keeps us present before God. That’s why we can be so sure that every detail in our lives of love for God is worked into something good.

So. Stay the course. We’re not alone. We don’t know the future but we know who holds the future. He takes our wordless sighs. Our aching groans. Keeps us present before God.

What’s our job? Stay the course so we can get to the top. See the view. Know because he promises it, that it will be worked into something good. Because he is God.

Stay the course.