rope climbing

I'd like to explain to you a little about rope climbing. When rope climbing you get into a harness tie yourself to a rope and climb the wall. On the other end of the rope is another person. They are your belayer. They are there to catch you and hold you up if you need a break or slip and fall. When climbing, you start with the yellow dots or the easy problems first. As you build strength and get better, you move on to green dots and blue dots and black dots...etc. etc. Climbing is not a sport that you are just good at all at once. Yes there are people that it comes easier to, but you have to progress in climbing. You do that by building muscles and working as many problems as you can. You can't quit on yourself. A lot of times it is discouraging when you can't get to the top and finish a problem. There are times (especially in rope climbing) when you arms and legs are just too exhausted to go any farther. What you have to remember in situations like this when you are climbing, is that you have a belayer. They are there for you. And if you are too tired to pull up onto one more thing, you can sit and rest your arms and legs for picking back up where you left off. If you don't quit, and have patience, you are certain to reach the top.

This is so much like our lives. We are thrown into life here and we just get moving. We all have hard times in our life. Each is specific to us, like a specific problem on the wall. As we climb up or go through trials it tends to get harder and harder. We have to remember that we have a support system. Whether it be family or friends or our Father in Heaven, there is someone there to hold us up and keep us safe when we feel like we can't go any farther. And then when we are ready to move on, they are right there ready to help us up. As you continue to go through trials and hard times, we grow and become stronger and better people. Then when more trials, and harder trials come our way, we have the strength to get through them and the trust in our support system to make it through no matter how challenging. If you trust, have patience, and believe you have the strength, you will reach the top. It's guaranteed.

And this is what I learned at our family gathering at the climbing gym. It was a fantastic night :)