Sabbath Devotional :: Hang On

Hang on. It’s what you say to someone when you don’t want them to give up.

“Hang on, I’m coming to help!” is a common thing women say, particularly to family members, or the related “Hang in there, it will be ok!” as we hug a friend when she is facing a situation that is particularly challenging.

I’d better get this out in the open from the start: I am not a rock climber. I have never aspired to be although I harbor a definite admiration for those who love this challenging activity. What a rush it must be to scale solid rock and sheer cliffs and impossible overhangs using one’s own strength and power alongside secure guide ropes and like-minded, helpful friends.

In the world of rock climbing, I’m at the dining-room-table-sized level. I’m vertically-challenged, meaning that I was born very near sea level and do my very best hiking within that same vertical range. I’ve hiked up to Timpanogos Cave in Utah, and thought I was going to die. That trail begins at 5638 feet/1718m above sea level, is only 1.5 miles/2.4k long but rises 1,160 feet/354m. I don’t consider myself a good hiker, but I’ll still do it if the motivation is strong enough.

MWEG has been a little bit like that for me. When it comes to the work of influencing politics and promoting ethical and legal government, it’s been a learning process that has come with personal victories (I CALLED my senator! On the phone! In real life!) and times when I have slipped and nearly fallen off the mountain and have been saved by MWEG friends.

Each of us is at a different point in the process. Each of us has a different reason for climbing this unwieldy, tricky, sometimes downright scary behemoth. Each of us might have a slightly different summit we are after and so the terrain we are covering to get there might be a little bit different from other MWEG members. Some are focused on the legality of the immigration ban, others care most deeply about our government’s ties with Russia, the destructive impact of racism in today’s society, or the necessity of healthcare reform.

Though we are each individual climbers, we are bound together by the anchors, ropes, and footholds unique to MWEG. We each recognize the value and power found in climbing with friends. Some of those friends’ experiences vary widely; many MWEG members have bagged peaks I have never dreamed of, but some have walked the same paths as I have.

What we have in common, at the very least, is this list of traits: faith in a God who wants His children to choose the right, the desire to do good, tenacity, patriotism, compassion, perseverance, charity, endurance, hope, and love.

We have seen the benefit of loving one another here in this group; we see that we don’t have to be the same to be united for good. We have seen and/or have made mistakes, which is all part of the learning process, part of the climb. Learning from mistakes and the way we carry on afterward (upward!) is what gives me hope for what this amazing group of mountaineers can accomplish.

Peter gives this counsel to the believers spread across Asia Minor in roughly A.D. 64:

8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as [sisters], be pitiful, be courteous:

9 Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.

10 For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile:

11 Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace, and ensue it.

Personally, I’m here because I am a firm and dedicated believer in The Beloved Community- a place where people love each other. MWEG isn’t Zion — not yet — but it is a place where we can practice being united as we attempt to scale an enormous problem together: requiring ethicality, legality, and responsibility from our elected leaders. That’s our focus and that’s the trail we’ve marked for our journey together.

Sisters, hang on. Do not give up — not even if you falter or have to pause to catch your breath. We’re in this together and we’re here to help each other. There will be other members around us to bear our packs when we feel temporarily faint, to direct us to water when we are drained and parched, or to show us the best way up when we feel the rocks beneath us giving way. We will only get there together.

Onward and upward! I truly believe that the view from the top is unbelievably beautiful.