Climbing the Dunes Pictures Life

Next week I will be taking a trip to the Great Sand Dunes National Park in Colorado. It will be the fourth time that my wife and I have been there. The first trip, 19 years ago, was with my daughter and she will also be with us on this trip. Now 19 years later we will get to hike to the top of the dunes with her and our grandkids.

With this post I want to share the beauty of the dunes and relate them to the struggles of life.

As you begin your climb up the dunes you will discover that as you take a step you sink into the sand and slide backwards. Often life is like that .

You might be pursuing a dream or getting an education and you find that with each step towards your dream it seems you slide back a little.  It is at these moments that you need to remember to not give up.

It may seem as though you are not getting anywhere but if you do not give up your struggles will pay off. You will top the ridge to discover the struggles have made you stronger and more able to reach your dream.   

Once on the ridge you will look over and see others struggling up their hills.

In Romans 5: 1-5 Paul tells us that we will face struggles and if we will just hang in there we will develop character and find hope.

We can find hope in what Jesus did for us and what the Holy Spirit continues to do within our lives. Because of that hope we can reach out to others who are struggling and encourage them not to give up.

After sometimes years of struggling we will reach the summit and we will be able to look out over our lives and enjoy what God has done in us. The struggle to the top was not easy and it was painful. Once at the top what we experienced will not compare to what lies before us.

If we endure to the end our reward will be well worth the effort.

As we look back over our life it will seem there are moments that we struggled alone. There is a poem about that struggle called footprints.

This final photo is one I took years ago looking back at the trail my wife and I left. It reminds me of the poem except in a different way. In this photo instead of a single track of prints like in the poem there are two. Often when we are struggling we seem to be alone but I believe Jesus is right there beside us as we struggle. He is not whispering but yelling "Don't give up!" "Keep moving forward!"

As my grandkids climb the sand dunes I know there are going to be moments when one will want to give up but I know what the view is like at the top so I will encourage them to keep going and not give up.

That is what I want to do now is to encourage you to not allow the struggles of life to keep you from reaching the potential that God has for you. In the end all of your efforts will be worth it. You will hear the Father say, "Well done my son come and enter the Kingdom".