Article October 4, 1982 Issue

Stay anchored to the rock

PETER HOLLINSHEAD SELBY

Whether or not you and I are actively interested in conquering any of the mountains of the world, we nevertheless can climb the peaks of holiness. There are some useful parallels between the two kinds of climbing. Insight into this fact sustained me when I seemed to be slipping and falling during my climb Spiritward.

My struggle was not with a mountain. It was with a physical difficulty that persisted in spite of my continued efforts to be healed, which were lovingly supported by the prayers of a Christian Science practitioner. I felt very uplifted at times when some signs of progress appeared. Then the physical symptoms would reappear, and I seemed to fall to the very bottom of the "cliff" I was attempting to scale. Discouragement argued that I always was starting over, forever trying to regain a sense of spiritual dominion. I sought encouragement in the words of the Psalmist, who, in speaking of a good man, writes, "Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand."^{Ps. 37:24.}

As I prayed for guidance one day, a picture of a mountaineer anchored to the face of a sheer rock cliff came to my thought. When an ascent is particularly difficult the lead climber in a group drives pitons (metal spikes) into crevices in the rock to aid the climbers' progress and safely secure their position. Had I been securing my safety, I wondered? Was I properly equipped to make the ascent?

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