Here these guys had just spent who knows how long working on these routes to challenge us climbers and I end up being the guy who misses the whole point of it all
A few guys were sitting around near some rather large tool boxes just talking and watching other climbers at a local rock climbing gym I train at. I didn’t think too much about them or even the out-of-place tool boxes lounging there other than just some guys hanging out.
Then I overheard someone who had just gotten off their shift working there at the gym mention the bouldering wall in front of her had just been reset.
As I heard that and glanced over at the particular wall she was talking about, I noticed the rock grips were more colorful because they hadn’t been chalk-worn like the ones they took the place of on the wall.
Having new routes is pretty exciting after a few months of tackling the same ones each week, so needless to say, I was excited about having new routes to explore. I probably spent about a good 3 or 4 minutes looking at the different routes determining which one I would attempt first, fighting excitement as I tried to focus. In rock climbing jargon this would be considered finding the “beta” of the route . . . gathering information from it in its difficulty, where the crux is, and what moves would work best to finish it.
The route I ended up choosing challenged me in just the right amount of technique and strength, demanding I mixed it with good balance as I worked my way to finish it at the top. After I jumped down off the top and stood there watching someone attempt a route they chose, it finally hit me.
Those guys sitting around next to the tool boxes were the route setters who had literally just finished resetting some of the bouldering walls.
Suddenly I had a genius idea.
So I turned and asked them if they had indeed reset the wall. Of course they said they did, so I continued my inquiry and asked:
“Did y’all see me climb that route?”
One in particular responded and said he had watched me.
I then asked, “Did I do it right?”
He continued to say with a smirk, “Well, you finished it . . . so you did it right.”
Why do we do that? Why do we look for something wrong in something already right? It has been called being a “perfectionist” or even saying things like, “I just want to get it right.” There isn’t anything wrong with that, but when it makes you miss the whole point?!
I felt so dumb . . .
Here these guys had just spent who knows how long working on these routes to challenge us climbers and I end up being the guy who misses the whole point of it all.
I was watching a Youtube video right now about a guy who free-climbed the climbing route called The Nose on the legendary face of El Capitan in Yosemite National Park. As I watched it, I realized something.
Nobody cares if this guy did it “right.” The documentary only depicted the insane amount of determination and daring it took to accomplish ascending almost 3,000 ft. up through 31 pitches to finish the climb.
He did it, and that’s the point.
How many times do we do that in our own lives?
The guy who climbed The Nose free-climbed it . . . meaning he was not harnessed into anything. So basically if he fell, nothing would keep him from plummeting about 3,000 ft. down to his death. You think anybody would call him out on a few minor “wrongs” after doing something incredible like that? We miss the point of what we are facing because it just doesn’t seem right or feel right or doesn’t seem to be working out in the way we think is right. How many times does that cause us to pre-maturely give up at what we are being asked to face?
Honestly, if one of those guys told me I had done it wrong, I would have sadly counted that as a failure even though the fact of the matter is I got to the top. That route was designed to give me enough challenge as to discourage me from getting to the top, yet I reached the object of accomplishment.
Take some time right now and think about . . .
-What is that thing God has put on your heart to face in a relationship or work environment or bad habit?
-What is that something that He has challenged you with . . . something you know you can’t do perfectly . . . but He is still asking you to take some steps regardless of what you can or can't do?
-Now ask yourself if you are making it harder than it is?
Are you getting in the way or overcomplicating it because it doesn’t look like what you think it should look like when you take those steps?
We cannot get distracted by the “route” in which life ends up becoming for us.
In climbing, the more you hesitate to make a move you know is the next necessary move, the faster your energy depletes while you think or analyze it. When that happens, if it is a hard enough next move, you risk not having the necessary energy to provide enough strength to complete it. It is like that in the way we are obedient to God’s leading.
God never asked for perfection . . . in fact that is exactly why Jesus had to die on the cross so our imperfection could be covered by His perfect blood.
I imagine our loving Father looking at us and just saying, “Son, I’m okay with the fact that you don’t ever get it perfect. I want you to be okay with it now.”
What great freedom we would find and absolute relief we would feel when resting in the fact that we don’t have to get it perfect.
We just have to get to the top of whatever it is we are climbing. Sure it matters how we get there, but God gives us mercy through forgiveness and Grace through Jesus to empower us. So let us not get so hung up on our shortcomings along the way when He is calling us to trust Him to help us finish a route in our life.
Whether that next step He is putting on our hearts seems big or even small, we just have to take on that route God sets for us and climb our best.
He does the rest.
