Born to Climb!

I am part of a wonderful Bible study called Faithfully Fit. We meet every week to work out our bodies with a walk together or exercising to a video. We also work out our souls through the study of God's Word. Last night we met for the last time until school starts back up and we decided in celebration we would venture out on a hike up to the Rifle Arch. There were 5 of us in the group along with two of my guys...Josh and Micah and 2 other boys. It was a little warm when we started and truth be told I don't think any of us were very excited about hiking on a hot afternoon but we were a determined bunch and we set off on our way. For the most part the hike is not too bad. There are a few steep climbs that gets your heart pumping but there are some nice stretches in between those places that allow you to catch your breath. We did find several shady stops along the way that allowed us to pause and take in the view of the valley below. The stopping was really all about enjoying the view....it had nothing to do with resting or catching our breath or giving our tired legs a break....nothing to do with that whatsoever! Really! There is a place near the end of the hike where the terrain suddenly changes. There is even a bench at this spot and some nice rocks to sit on. You can see the arch from this place and the temptation to just call this the end of the hike is a great one because beyond this spot there is no more path....just lots of rocks to crawl over to make your way to the final destination....beneath the arch itself. We thought for just a second about not completing the hike but the thought only lasted a second. We knew we wanted to complete the journey. We were not satisfied with just seeing the arch....we wanted to touch it...so off we went....scrambling up over the rocks...tredging ever onward. The boys of course were off ahead of us. They decided to take a little more adventurous route and proceeded to climb up a rather steep rock that had some footholds in it. Micah is my monkey boy and he scampered up that thing like it was nothing. Josh on the other hand got about half way up it and decided he could not go any further. The only problem was he decided he could not get back down either. The other ladies proceeded on up the somewhat of a path to make their way to the arch while I stayed behind to encourage Josh that he could do it. He was however fairly insistent that he could not so I being the brave adventurous mom that I am climbed up that same rock so that I could give him a push to the next foothold. It all worked great. Josh got up off the rock thanks to my little heave ho. The only problem......now I was on the rock....in the same place....and suddenly I also felt fairly insistent that I could not get off of that rock. Climbing up to that place....no problemo....climbing back down from that place....big problemo! I did recognize that if I lost my footing I probably would not die...maybe just break a bone or two and scrape myself up so that was a bit of a relief but I was not looking forward to any broken pieces of my body so I opted not to go down. Next option...up! Hmmmmm....no place for my big feet. In the meantime Micah is scampering up beside me....Here mom you could go this way....scamper, scamper scamper.....Or, mom, do it this way....scamper, scamper, scamper. I have never wanted to strangle a monkey before but at this point the temptation was great! I finally decided that it would have to be done sideways so I began to stretch out my leg....and stretch and stretch until I felt like I was doing the splitz. My legs were probably only at a 90 degree angle but it sure felt like the splitz on this 43 year old body! But....hallelujah...it worked and I was able to slide across the rock sideways and make my way back to the path. Phew! I seriously was wondering there for a few minutes how I would ever manage to get off of that rock without sliding down it and taking off a layer of skin! I joined the other ladies under the arch to take in the beauty of God's amazing handiwork....the rock formations, trees growing in amazing places. As we sat there chatting Josh walked in and with a fist of victory in the air shouted...."I WAS BORN TO CLIMB!"

After resting under the arch for a bit we set off again to make our way back. The sun had set. The sky was pink and purple, an almost full moon was making its way up into the sky. There is only one word for the whole of the experience.....GLORIOUS!