Ascending Together

This past Wednesday rock climbers Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson reached the summit of El Captain's Dawn Wall in Yosemite National Park after nineteen days of climbing. Until they accomplished this amazing feat, no one had ever free climbed the vertical, sheer, 3,000 foot Dawn Wall. The climbers used only their hands and feet to ascend, using ropes only as safety precautions to catch either climber should one of them fall, and to hold their tent and sleeping platform at night. Free climbing, as you can imagine, is by far the most extreme and challenging form of rock climbing. To provide some idea of how difficult the climb was it is important to understand that one portion of the climb took Jorgeson seven days and ten attempts to complete. Caldwell, having already completed this difficult section, was forced to wait on the wall for his climbing partner to catch up to him. At other times during the climb, they were forced to pause their ascent as they waited until lacerations in their fingers and hands healed enough for them to be able to continue. It was not uncommon for them to use super glue to close the cuts in their fingers. Their patience and determination was tested in every way. The sheer magnitude of what these two individuals accomplished is almost impossible for most of us to fully comprehend, especially if we are not climbers ourselves. Caldwell and Jorgeson will now clearly be seen as two of the most accomplished and skilled individuals in the history of rock climbing.

As I have read the stories of the amazing success of these two men, one thing that stands out to me is that an essential ingredient in their success is the fact that they accomplished this climb together. Their partnership is not just a nice addition to their success, but rather an essential and necessary ingredient. Neither man could have done this alone.

Caldwell and Jorgeson have spent many years and thousands of hours planning and practicing this epic climb up the Dawn Wall in Yosemite. They knew from the beginning that they would need to make this journey as a team and there was always the intention that they would both succeed in reaching the top together. During the climb, they of course cheered each other on and at other times belayed each other, assisting with the ropes to help keep the other person remain safe even if one lost his grip and fell. Because this was a free climb, neither climber could ever use the ropes to help himself or his partner to ascend in any way, yet they could use the ropes to catch their friend if they were to fall.

There is a great wellness message in all of this. Each of our journeys in life is in many ways an individual journey. There is much in life that we can only do by ourselves. Tommy Caldwell and Kevin Jorgeson could only do their own individuals climbs--they could not do one another's climbs. At the same time, though, they could only achieve what they achieved because they did it with the support of each other. There is an African proverb that sums this up so well: "If you want to travel fast, travel alone. If you want to travel far, travel with others."

When asked by reporters at the top of their climb if they hoped that their feat would inspire others, Jorgeson replied, "I think everyone has their own Dawn Wall, some big goal they would like to achieve." With this in mind, may we look now to Jorgeson and Caldwell as a reminder that whatever challenges we find ourselves climbing or whatever difficult goals we have set for ourselves, we will always climb farther and higher together.

A Conspiracy of Love

A few weeks ago during this recently completed Christmas season I was introduced to a wonderful quote. It is from an American writer and lecturer by the name of Hamilton Wright Mabie, who lived from the mid-nineteenth century to the early twentieth century. The quote describing Christmas is, "Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love." The phrase, "a conspiracy of love" is what caught my attention in this quote. The word conspiracy is usually associated with an activity that is criminal or hurtful, such as a conspiracy to overthrow the government or a plot to undermine someone or something. If you look up the definition of conspire the first meaning matches this thinking, "to agree together, especially secretly, to do something wrong, evil, or illegal."

The second meaning of conspire expands the understanding of the word beyond something secret and illegal-- "to act or work together toward the same result or goal." This meaning clearly comes from the root meanings of the two words that combine to create the word conspire, con meaning "with" and spire meaning "spirit." So to conspire means for people to act together with the same spirit, a meaning that is clearly captured in the quote I shared at the beginning of this column, when it talks about the season of Christmas being a time the whole world is engaged in a conspiracy of love.

The headlines in the news this week have again been filled with stories of people committing unbelievable acts of horrific violence. What happened in Paris is evidence that, in fact, people can conspire together to do evil. Yet the response of the thousands of people that showed up just hours after the shootings for a spontaneous gathering to honor the victims, risking their own safety in the process, showed that people can also choose to conspire together to do good and spread love in the world.

With this week's events in Paris and with of all of the other hundreds of local stories of violence and hurt we need a conspiracy of love now as much as ever in our world. Love is spread the same way hatred is spread, by people individually and collectively deciding which spirit will be their guide and deciding which spirit they are going to radiate out both at home and in the world.

These last few days I have been reflecting on what kind of spirit am I spreading into the lives of the people I come in contact with. I invite you to do the same. I have been reflecting on the difficult fact that I, like most all of us, am capable of spreading a spirit of negativity, and of unhealthy criticism. At the same time, I also, like most of us, am capable of spreading a spirit of love and healing. It's not easy to take an honest inventory of ourselves, but in the end it is a worthwhile exercise as it helps us to recommit to engaging in a conspiracy of love, the kind of conspiracy our homes and our world desperately need right now.

A High Degree of Resolution

Our daughter and son-in-law are going to Thailand later this month for their honeymoon. To help them capture the wonderful experience they are sure to have on their trip, my wife and I gave them a compact digital camera for Christmas. If you have ever shopped for a digital camera you know that cameras with higher degrees of resolution produce the clearest images. A higher degree of resolution will produce the best results.

This is the time of year when many of us are making resolutions. No matter what the particular content of a New Year's resolution may be, the key to success is being resolute about one's resolution. Having a high degree of resolution regarding your resolutions means, just as with a digital camera, that you have a high degree of focus and clarity. Just as with digital cameras, a higher degree of resolution will produce the best results.

So in light of all this, my New Year's resolution is to have a higher degree of resolution in my life. I resolve to have a sharper focus on my most important priorities. I resolve to have a clearer focus on my faith, my family, my work, my service to others, and my commitment to live a balanced life. To be more resolute in all of these areas of my life is my resolution. Whether or not you make resolutions this time of year, I invite you to reflect on the benefits of living life with a high degree of resolution by keeping your spirituality, purpose, and values in sharp focus.

  To our readers, all good wishes for a Happy New Year and resolute 2015.

The Heart of Christmas

I remember the first Christmas that I was a parent. It was 1982. I bought How the Grinch Stole Christmas that year and read it repeatedly to my 8 month old son, not so much for his sake as for mine. Like the Grinch at the end of the story my heart was growing to expanded dimensions that I had never before experienced. Until I became a parent, I didn't know I could feel so much love in my heart. I cried more that Christmas season than any other, tears of joy, tears of feeling my heart being stretched to a new size, tears of a love too deep for words. There is something about the vulnerability of a child, especially of an infant, that allows us, or perhaps demands us, to experience our own vulnerability. The infant has no defenses, no pretenses, and no place to hide. It is utterly dependent on others for its existence.

I still tear up a lot at Christmas. It's an emotional time of year for most of us with tears of grief for loved ones no longer with us, and tears of joy for the love of friends and family.

As we continue our twelve days of celebrating Christmas, the celebration of the Word made flesh and entering the world, it is worth noting that the Word chose to enter the world not as an armed warrior, but as a disarming infant.

May this disarming infant be a reminder to us of our own vulnerability and may it be an invitation to put down our defenses and pretenses, to allow our hearts to grow a few sizes larger this year. May it be a reminder that we, too, are completely dependent upon one another, and upon the Word made flesh, for our very existence.

A Continued Merry Christmas to all of you from Living Compass.

Receiving Gifts

Have you ever had the experience of being hurt by how someone responded to a gift that you had given him or her? Perhaps this person opened your gift, looked at it and realized it was not what he or she wanted, quickly putting it aside and never showing interest in it again. Such a reaction would understandably be painful for any gift giver. If we are honest, we have probably each been on both sides of this gift-exchanging scenario. It is easy to build up expectations about a gift we want to receive and then be disappointed when what we open is not the gift we had in mind. While it true that "It is more blessed to give, than to receive" (Acts 20:35), it is also true that one of the real blessings and gifts we can give to others is to be a good receiver of gifts, appreciating the other person's effort and intent to bring happiness.

As you receive gifts this Christmas, take the opportunity to practice being a good receiver. Show genuine interest in the gift and be curious about how or why the giver chose this gift for you. Receiving a gift this way will mean so much to the giver and ultimately to you as well. It will be as much of a gift for them as the gift they have given you is for you.

Extending this idea of receiving gifts, why not practice becoming more intentional about receiving the non-material gifts that you have been given as well? Your friends, each member of your family, your colleagues, and your neighbors are all gifts that you have been given by God. What if you were to think this coming week about each person in your life as a gift you are receiving from God, as if they contained a spark of God's divinity within them? How would you treat them then?

It is all too easy to receive a gift, whether a material gift or the gift of someone's presence in our lives, in a mindless manner. In both cases, if we are not careful, we may not give adequate attention to the gift or we may take it for granted, hurting the giver in the process.

Whatever gifts we have may or may not be given this Christmas, we all have been given the most important gift of all, the birth of Jesus, the birth of the Word made flesh. As with all gifts, this gift needs to be opened and received with mindfulness and loving attention. To do otherwise would hurt God, the giver of this and all gifts, as well as diminish the full potential for transformation of our lives that this gift offers.

Each week this wellness column focuses on the choices we can make to be well and to whole. As we prepare to celebrate Christmas, it is a time to not just on our choices, but on the most important choice of all, the choice that God has made to become fully incarnate in our lives. Making room in the inn of our own hearts to receive this gift from God with gratitude and appreciation is the true foundation for all wellness and wholeness.

**This is the last weekly column before Christmas, and so our Living Compass team would like to wish each of you a most wonderful and Holy Christmas.