From Glampers to Climbers

I bought my husband a tent for his birthday a few weeks ago. We are a family of 5 with three small children 6 and under. They still crawl in our bed in the early mornings making our bed a very crowded space. They just like to be close!! So we easily could have bought a 4 person tent, maybe even a 2 person tent! But NOOOO! I wanted to go big! I wanted to have room to spread out and play games and eat meals and all the fun things campers do! Maybe I dreamed of “glamping” without meaning to. I found an “8” person tent on sale, and was so excited for my purchase! When we set it up, we quickly realized just how big it was, and my husband laughed at me a little. But I was so proud of my purchase. I even continued from there and started buying sleeping bags and even cots for each person. Who wants to have a stiff back when they wake up?? We were going to be comfortable campers!! I’m sure some people would have given us the term glampers and not so much climbers. In my obsessive drive to continue buying stuff that would provide the proper pampering, the Lord graciously spoke to me. 

He began to show me that if life itself and my walk with Him was going to be an amazing journey with him, much like climbing a mountain, then I didn’t need to worry so much about the comfort of camping but to focus more on the charisma found in climbing. It’s not like I have to work my own way up in my own strength and never rest. It is in His strength by which I live (Phil. 4:13). But my journey with Him is not meant to stay at one level for the rest of my life. We are not meant to just settle into the life of being glampers instead of climbers when there is so much more to explore outside! In the same way, there is always more to know about God throughout our journey, and if we get too comfortable with where we’re at, we will miss the growth found in embracing the climb. Rest is important, and we can find it in Him alone. Temporary comforts can draw us away from true comfort as we journey with Jesus. Are you preparing to settle in at base camp, or are you up for an adventure worth taking??