Ascent of the Angels

The Ascent of the Angels
Zion National Park

The canyon is chilled in the shadows of the morning. The sun rays warming the tips of the Patriarch Rocks towering above and surrounding me.

I am already winded and warming myself as I sit on a sandstone bench for a moment of praising God in this, a glimpse of His Magnificence.

The river falls away into the distant valley as I pause to remove my jacket. The wind is crisp yet the climb is elevating my temperature as each step does my body.

It is my breathing and not my knee that slows me today, yet a sudden flattening of the trail renews my strength.

I read from Oswald Chamber’s “My Utmost for His Highest”. A fitting title for such a day hike as this. He writes about the uncontainable love of God. How He loves me recklessly, abundantly, colorfully with unfathomable immensity. I see this reflected in every step I take.

I meet my lifelong friend Kate on the trail. “It is an easy hike except for the elevation,” she tells me on her way back down. The heights and sheer drops prompt me to consider how true this is for loving as well.

It is an easy path to love those who love you but it is a perilous cliff at times to love with the uncontainable, reckless, no barrier love of God, Jesus tells us, though I paraphrase His words.

The challenges of loving with God’s love can pull me down just as gravity pulls at my legs as the climb steepens. I begin to realize that I am fixated on my feet as I work to breathe and become suddenly aware of the closeness of the precarious edge. I become momentarily dizzy from the sheerness of the drop until I look up and the sight steadies me. I am held steady and securely by the towering wall beside me on which I rest my hand.

I revert to my foot fixation and catch my breath, climbing onward. My son, Joe, is far ahead of me on the path. I fear for his wildness and consider how his exuberance may cause his ‘downfall’ yet soon am reminded of the proper role of gravity. It will weigh him down with the steepness as it does me. Even youth’s folly is subject to the gravity of the steep.

A welcomed, joyous reprieve surprises me as the path turns unexpectedly level into a shaded slice between two towering sentinels of red rock, forest between. The nooks and crannies and mysteriously lighted from above caves within the canyon walls present a light show. Every turn, step and view offering a different textured pattern of light and color. It is cool in its embrace and my steps lighten as well.

The beauty of this almost slot canyon gives way to the steepness of the switchbacks cut from the rock. It is a winding (curving) and winding (breathy) adventure in endurance. My mind stops writing and becomes wholly immersed in the climb.

There is a wide gathering place atop the switchbacks before the last grueling climb to the summit. This trail provides rails of chain to assist in the final assault up the slippery sandstone trail. I choose a tree half way up to sit and consider my knees and the path to come. It is growing right out of the side of the incline but provides shade and security and a lovely waiting place for those already above me.

I breathe in the pure blue sky and immensity around me. As my words return, I rest immersed in the sweetness of endurance accomplished. So close in proximity to the heavenlies and in the refreshment of God’s step by step presence realized.