Pushing Rocks Uphill

A friend and I recently reconnected and it has been wonderful. It turns out that we are on similar life paths . Both she and I have been very committed to taking very devastating experiences and turning them into opportunities for personal growth. There's great comfort in knowing that someone else is walking a similar journey.

My friend shared with me that it feels like all she's done in the past 2 1/2 years is work on herself: dealing with hurtful stuff, setting new goals, and making decisions that will help her make these goals a reality. And she's accomplished so many of them through courage and perseverance. But all the successes doesn't mean the journey is easy. She admitted to me that it times it feels both exhausting and futile. Boy, do I relate to that.

This reminds of the story from Greek Mythology about Sisyphus (oh by the way, I had to look the name up on Wikipedia). Sisyphus was this guy whose entire life consisted of pushing a huge rock up a hill only to have it roll back down again. Push the rock up, watch it roll back down. Over and over again. Never accomplishing the task. Exhausting and futile. It would be easy to say that my journey is just like this, but I can't. Even though I feel as though I've been pushing the rock up the hill over and over again, the fact of the matter is that it's not rolling back down. I'm still pushing it up the hill. I'm tired, I've had to rest at times, but I'm still pushing it up the hill.

Jesus tells us that as disciples, we need to be willing to pick up our crosses and follow him. At first glance, this too seems exhausting and futile. Are we really expected to spend our whole lives carrying heavy crosses on our back? However, the cross not only represents burden but life after death. Think about it: Jesus died a horrible death on the cross, but came back to life. With our various crosses, we too die sometimes very painful "deaths" but new life results. Exhausting yes, but not futile. It takes courage to pick up our crosses and "die." It takes perseverance to wait for the new life. But it is glorious once it happens. We can do the impossible if we focus on the new life, the top of the hill. We can rest. Where? In the arms of one who understands because he too has endured hard journeys. Jesus is there pushing the rock right with us, helping us get to the top of the hill. We just need to let him help. We'll make it to the top!