Lessons Learned on the Mountain

What a great Spring Break we had!  We packed up the minivan and trekked across a couple of states to the beautiful town of Crested Butte, Colorado.  What made it even more fun was we were traveling with friends and all 15 of us stayed in the same condo for the week. 

As we headed out to ski each day, I knew that I needed to strap on my positive attitude for the ride.  Don't ever tell my children, but I don't like skiing much.  It really isn't the skiing part so much, as long as I am on a nice wide open green or easy blue.  When it comes to going a little faster than I am comfortable with though, I get a little frustrated!  Bottom line is...I am not a very good skier.  In fact, I can't keep up with my kids, much less my husband.  (Perhaps it has something to do with the fact I learned to ski on Mount Aggie while at TAMU.  Or possibly it could have something to do with the fact I never took a true skiing lesson.  Or maybe it just has to do with the fact I really am not a dare devil, at all.  As much as I would like to say that I am a risk taker...I am not.)

So as I talked to my husband about my lack of skill and how I didn't like not being able to help my kids out there very well he said, "We think of it differently.  I see it as a learning opportunity."  How right he is.  There are so many lessons to be learned on the mountain, both for me and my kids....things like:

• Perseverance....the only way to get down the mountain, is to point your skis down the mountain.  Giving up will get you nowhere and leave you feeling even more frustrated. 
• Patience...with self and others.  Learning something new or tackling something that doesn't come naturally helps us to grow.  Without patience we stifle the growth process.
• Gumption...sometimes you just have to try, get up the nerve and put yourself out there.  It takes courage!
• Team work...It is OK to ask for help along the way.  Working together builds relationships and allows for a sense of camaraderie. 
• Faith...This is the most important one, I think.  We must have faith in ourselves and faith in God.  This one was very clear to me as the winds picked up one day and I was skiing with my 7 year old and our 15 year old friend.  We experienced heavy winds and were either blown down or rendered immobile, finding it difficult to get our skis back under us and continue.  The wind was blowing so hard that ice was pelting us.  Thinking it would be easier to follow a green "road" down the mountain, a the few of us left the rest of the group and started making the slow, winding trek down.  The problem was, the winds were awful.  At one point, when we again could not make further progress, I stopped to shelter my daughter from the wind and ice beating against her and our friend came back to shelter us both.  (Let me interject that this is one of the most compassionate, incredible young men that we know and I was so grateful for his courage and strength of character.  His parents are dear friends of ours and I have so much to learn from them, as they are doing an outstanding job in raising their 3 children.)  After a few minutes we started going forward again, and as soon as possible we found a run that would lead us more quickly down the mountain and out of the winds.  As we were stopped on that mountain I will tell you that I said many prayers.  I had to have faith that we would get down and faith that He was with us.  It was a bit harrowing and I don't want to repeat that experience again, but if I ever do, I will try to again rely on faith.

Is skiing my favorite vacation activity?  No, but do I need to do it for myself and my children.  Absolutely.  My husband is right...it is one giant learning opportunity.  So many positives come from it and I just need to have faith and all of the rest will work itself out.  It did this year, and I will go skiing again when the opportunity arises.  And I will thank God for it, too.

How was your Spring Break and what learning opportunities did you experience?  What got you through them?  Just wondering...

Blessings and Happy Spring!