Beauty of friendships (Ashley)

I've learned just how amazing God is at orchestrating the use of friendships to get you to understand something about his character.

It's no secret I've struggled with perfection. If I didn't do something right the first time, something was wrong with me. I was afraid my friends wouldn't like me or my family wouldn't love me if I wasn't perfect. And, as much as people would tell me otherwise, I never seemed to understand it. But, a few days ago I was coming home from a day of climbing and I was having an awesome conversation with a fellow climbing buddy. We were talking about life and the importance of trying to make yourself better and the importance of surrounding yourself with friends who are trying to do the same. He said, "For you, climbing is a way of perfecting yourself. It's something you work at to get better, and the lessons you learn from trying to become perfect at a sport will be lessons you carry into other parts of life. Mastery doesn't just happen overnight." As soon as he said that mastery doesn't happen overnight, it finally clicked for me.

I've said in my other blog that one of the reasons why I love climbing is that it is teaching me how to fall. It's teaching me that the goal is not to get to the top, but rather to get there successfully. And you try and try and try. And it doesn't work and doesn't work. And, then one day it does work. SO...I think the past few months of me climbing lead me to receive what my friend had to say. I finally understand and realize the lesson when the new testament says we are called to be "like Christ." when he says to be "perfect." It's really not about doing things right the first time, but the process of allowing yourself to test your limits and learning from mistakes. We're constantly being refined. But, we have to be willing to let go of that fear of failure to see the true value of what's gained and lost.

So...I don't know if this makes sense to anyone else (and maybe I didn't explain it properly). But, I've learned that lessons can come to you from anywhere, and only when you're ready to receive them do they actually sink in. Maybe God does know what He's doing :-)