This past Monday morning, partway up the logging road we’ve been hiking a couple of times a week for the last fifteen months, it occurred to me that every trip up that road isn’t without effort. It is always some form of hard, which is probably because we attempt to push ourselves a little harder whenever the going gets a little easier.
In other words, it is hard by choice.
Over time, all of those trips up and down that road have made us stronger, readying us for more demanding hikes and greater physical challenges.
What is true on the trail is true in every area of our lives. Doing one hard thing equips us to do other hard things. And while life is full of opportunities to choose hard over easy, many of the difficulties we encounter come our way unbidden. They land on our doorstep whether we want them to or not.
Every time we choose to do something hard, we are training ourselves to be ready for the hard that chooses us.
