Lessons From the Mountain — Lesson Three
When I am weak, then I am strong.
One practice of skillful skiing (as with skillful yoga and vibrant faith) is learning to hold seeming opposites in tension with each other, recognizing both are important and necessary. For example, strength, determination, and athleticism are certainly helpful on the slopes. Simply getting the boots strapped on each day can be a Herculean feat resulting in elevated heart rate, shakiness, and possibly tears. One day I saw stars. Usually by the time I got the boots tightened sufficiently, walked up the hill, and mounted the skis, I felt exhausted and ready for a break. Thinking I was in the best physical shape of my life, I looked around me and wondered how all the others did it.
Quietly and firmly, Roger encouraged me to let go and and let the mountain do the work. In skiing, one also learns to yield and receive. It is extremely helpful to be relaxed and free from anxiety. Therefore, one of the first lessons for a novice skier is to seek balance between effort and surrender.
In yoga philosophy, the principle of “spanda” is the practice of holding two paradoxical truths in creative tension. Each of the seeming opposites is necessary. The extreme of one gives birth to the other. One of the greatest gifts of yoga is learning how to relax and breathe while holding a challenging pose. We root down to rise up. We hold stillness in the midst of movement. We contract and release muscles in order to expand range of motion.
Very early in my ministry, a church member told me the story of the time she lost her husband in a tragic accident when she was a young mother with three small children. Throughout the first week after his death and through the funeral, she did not shed a tear. Everyone told her she was doing great. But she said she felt completely alone and cold as ice. Then one day, her children were bickering. She lost her temper, snapped at them, rushed to her bedroom, and wept. For the first time since the accident, she said she felt the powerful presence of God. Sometimes we have to let go, surrender, and give up control— in order to receive the flow of grace!
“But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you for my power is made perfect in weakness…so I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so the power of Christ may dwell in me….for whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”
(-2 Corinthians 12:9)
Questions for pondering:
Where am I trying too hard, forcing, muscling my way through?
How can I find ease and rest, even in challenging circumstances?
Walking with you, Vicki
*2021 Update: A short time after I wrote these posts, I fell and broke my left wrist while getting off a ski lift. Surgery followed with a stabilizing plate. I’ve paused the skiing for a season or two until I am able to work on bone density issues. Instead, I snowshoe!