By Debora Coty
I received a note recently from an aspiring writer who felt as if she were climbing never-ending stairs. She’d worked hard to complete a manuscript, only to have to rewrite the whole confounded thing.
Sigh. I feel her pain. So do you. Climbing, climbing, always climbing. So difficult when we can’t see the top of the stairway.
It’s not just a writer thing. It’s a life thing.
In the wake of the gal’s letter, challenging scenes resonated with me when spouse and I tried a new mountain trail: unending stairways, steep and rock-hard; feeling minuscule and defeated by the immensity of your goals before you even get started; doubts that they’re even possible to achieve.
Who hasn’t felt that way?
But that’s not to say we shouldn’t try. Because I believe sometimes in Papa God’s eyes, the journey is actually our destination.
It seems all uphill for a time, but there are little respites along the way, if we pause to look for them. Like the wee wildflowers (I prefer this moniker over weeds) inexplicably growing among the rocks.
Finally, if we persevere long enough to reach the top, the satisfaction and joy of accomplishment is unspeakable. Even though we occasionally slid backward on our behunkuses, we got up, dusted off our fannies, and kept putting one foot in front of the other until we reached the last step.
But you know a secret I’ve discovered? You may have already discovered it too. The stairs really don’t ever end.
Once you conquer one stairway, there’s always another starting just a little ways further on the landing. And that’s a good thing. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. Otherwise we might spend the rest of our lives lounging by the reflection pool and forget there’s more out there. Something different to see, feel, experience at the top of the stairs.
So I gotta go put another cold pack on my achy calf (leg, not cow) and try to think of something comforting and inspirational to say to a writer lady who wants to give up.
Maybe I should just tell her to take a hike.
“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial …” (James 1:12, NIV).
