Article July 19, 1999 Issue

OVER THE TOP

Mastering difficulties with God's help

By Peter Crosby Crabbe

Near my home there is a steep hill where I run. Each time I approach it I feel either tremendous anticipation at the prospect of charging up and over it or total dread at the thought of the long, laborious climb. Once, on a run up this hill, I learned a valuable lesson about the difference between remaining steadfast to the truth and using self-will.

I hadn't been running in a while, so negotiating the grade was pretty daunting, but I was determined not to let the hill get the better of me. My mind was completely focused on not stopping. Then about a quarter of a mile from the top, the thought came to me, "If you think your rest and victory come when you make it to the top of this hill, you are missing the lesson completely."

This came as a bit of a shock because that was exactly what I had been thinking. How else could I be victorious except by conquering this hill? As I continued to run, however, I wondered what other lesson I was supposed to learn. I began thinking about God, and the fact that since He had created all things in His universe in harmony with one another, the mountain and I should not be at cross-purposes. God had not created a mountain as an obstacle or test to wear me out, nor as a challenge for me to overcome in order to improve my health. Nor had He made me a mortal at the mercy of matter and physical strength. Rather, I saw that as ever-present good, God was right there with me—on the uphill side of the mountain as well as on the downhill slope. As the creation of God, Spirit, I was by nature spiritual, one in quality with my Maker.

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