To everything there is a season,
a time for every purpose under heaven:
…A time to mourn, and a time to dance.
Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4b (NKJV)
The southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail (AT) is Springer Mountain. From there, traveling about thirty miles north on the trail, you come to a “hikers’ comfort station” (FOOD! 😊) called Neel’s Gap or for some, a hikers’ northern most terminus over 2,000 miles short of the official northernmost terminus on Katahdin Mountain in Maine.
There is a huge tree at Neel’s Gap that is full of hikers’ boots. It is the end of the road for some. The finish line. It’s all she wrote. Kaput.
These individuals who end their adventure on the AT here, remove their means of transportation and toss them into the awaiting limbs of the tree of mourning.
There are several reasons for hopeful hikers ending their dream here. Some have sustained an insurmountable injury between Springer Mtn. and here. Others have found that their less than pristine knees, feet, back, etc., cannot take the whooping the trail can lay on you at times. Yet others, the majority, have found that setting out to hike the AT was the STUPIDEST idea they have EVER had; maybe EVER WILL HAVE! (Usually their boots are in the higher limbs.) 😊
Whatever the case may be, to stop or continue, each has made a decision concerning this season of their life and purpose.
For those that continue, they have determined that they are going to endeavor to dance all the way to the summit of Katahdin.
For the injured or those with some physical weakness, they have determined that the present time at least, is not the season for them to accomplish hiking the entire AT. They may try again in another season of life’s journey.
For those who have concluded that insanity can be the only reason any hiker continues on, they have determined that they got their seasons mournfully mixed up and that this was never a purpose that God meant for any sane man or woman to pursue. 😊
None of these choices have to be wrong. Hiking the AT is not a responsibility that God holds us accountable to fulfill. Any of these decisions described above or any additional reason can all be equally right.
There are times to put the peddle to the metal in our pursuits, and there are times to pull up stakes and move on to something else. It may be that it was a purpose we were never suited to pursue. It would certainly be wise then to recognize that. It may be a purpose that has simply run its course. Then it is just as important for us to recognize our life, and maybe the lives of others, would better served by making some adjustments. It may be a purpose and season of our life that was simply meant to get us to another more suitable purpose and season. If so, we need to recognize that this was only a door or a window in order to enter into an unexpected new world of adventure.
No doubt about it, there are legitimate times to mourn, but God certainly wants, equips and thus expects us to process our mourning in a way that transitions into a time of dancing.
For example, do you think those who threw their boots up into the limbs ending their hike because they hated it were still mourning when: they were sleeping in their soft warm bed, were eating real meals every day, when they listened to the rain in their warm, dry house, when they had running water, or sat on a REAL TOILET?! 😊 Not on your life!! They made choices that transitioned them from mourning to DANCING! 😊
It was not wasted time either. They had a dream and had the guts to set aside a season of time to try the dream out. When they saw they could dream better dreams than hiking the AT and better use their seasons of life, they chose well.
With God nothing is wasted time, mourning or dancing. We know that God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them. Romans 8:28 (NLT)
Again, I am not talking about some purpose that God holds us responsible and accountable for doing, but is there anything else in your or my life that we need to discard, to go outside and toss into the tree limbs? Something that would help us move to some much-needed dancing. Those hikers’ who threw their boots up into those tree limbs at Neel’s Gap were wise enough to see what needed to be done. Will we be as wise as they were?! 😊
Faith Aids 