Article August 29, 2011 Issue

Take a stand — and stand tall

By Susan Tish

My son and I love to go bike riding through a local park to our favorite ice cream store. Our rides pass quickly as we chatter and observe nature. However, there is a huge hill we jokingly call “six-mile hill” that we need to climb in order to get back home. (It’s not literally so many miles, but sometimes it sure feels like it!) 

We started doing these rides when my son was about six years old, and the first few times we attempted the journey back, it usually ended with a small child in a puddle of tears and a refusal to even attempt to climb the impossible hill. Soon, we both realized that if we, instead, were determined to reach the height of this hill, we could do it! We would start the climb knowing that we could reach the top. Instead of thinking “can we make it?” we would determine that when we got to the top we would enjoy a long victorious drink from our water bottles and the beautiful view. Soon, my son was tackling our “six-mile hill” with joyful determination. Today he sets his mind (and feet!) to the task and hustles up that hill and right back down the other side.

Finding healing or freedom from a physical challenge can often seem like riding up an impossible hill. Persistent pain, discouragement, or limitation can be overwhelming and we may find ourselves in tears letting the challenge wash over us and knock us down. But there is a choice to be made. We can choose to pick ourselves up, and take a stand for our right and authority to overcome any challenge. The authority backing up this conviction is the understanding that an entirely spiritual man, as we all are, is not subject to physical weakness, weariness, pain, and suffering. As God’s vibrant, spiritual, expression we are each endowed with the right to dominion over anything that would thwart our harmony and health. It is a shift in our mental attitude from one of weakness and defeat to strength and conviction that assists with the climb. 