Article June 27, 2011 Issue

Climbing wall confidence

By Nathan Krishnaswami

“Come on, Nathan! Just a little bit higher and you’ll be at the top!”
“I can’t—I want to come down!”
“Nathan, remember that you are in God’s hands. He’s always there to catch you and hold you up, and you will always be safe. When you get to the top, you can come down into God’s hands!”

I started going to Christian Science summer camp six years ago, and there I tried rock climbing for the first time ever. I had always been afraid of heights, and that first climb really put me to the test. I didn’t actually make it all the way up to the top that day, but the experience and the words the counselor said to me have always stuck with me. Camp helped me get over my fear of heights in a great way, and it also opened me up to trying new experiences and being more willing to learn new things about Christian Science.

That summer, while I climbed each day, I prayed for the strength to keep going up the wall. One day I had a sudden thought. Even if I did fall, the rope and harness would catch me—and God would protect me no matter what happened, and in everything that I did. Even the times I didn’t make it to the top, I was praying with the ideas from Hymn 148 in the Christian Science Hymnal. The lines “My Father has my treasure, / And He will walk with me” stayed in my head throughout the climb. I replaced “walk” with “climb,” and the thought of having my Father next to me, giving me the courage to continue, kept me going for as high up as I could go.

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