on snowboarding and faith

i guess after snowboarding 3 times, i finally have the right to call myself a real snowboarder, someone who loves it for the joy of it.. not just what i hear about it or see on tv. i remember how the first half of the time i spent on the slopes, i would constantly slip and fall, tumbling (after) down the hill. i have to admit, it was frustrating. time and time, i would fall and get up quickly, relentlessly pursuing a goal. that goal was the joy in fully knowing how to snowboard, to enjoy the beauty and grace (and dare i say glory) of it. i didn't know it personally, but people told me of it. it was promised. so therein lay my motivation to keep striving, not giving up.

when i finally mastered (sort of) i remember flying down the mountain on my board, with an excitement that i had never felt before. in that moment, i loved every bit of snowboarding and i finally saw and felt all the joy that people who've tasted the goodness have shouted about. i was so joyful that i even when i finally wiped out and slid backwards, down half of the mountain, i was laughing uncontainably.

that is the joy that God our Father promises to us that is waiting at the end of carrying the cross and burden we call being fully human. in the same way as i gradually got better at snowboarding, i am constantly being shown glimpses of glory, as if God is saying this is what's in store; this is what is soon to come, so keep striving. it is not easy to keep at something when you are tired, when you are frustrated, when you are weary and cannot see the light. but this is where faith comes in. faith is clinging onto that promise. these days, i am learning about taking joy in all my days, never looking back like mr lot's wife, but rather, desiring to be at a point where i can fully look only ahead, never ceasing to want more, never being satisified.

Lord, give me faith that surpasses what this world looks like. in You, there is victory won. give me faith like a child, so that in me, there will be victory realised. and all abudance of grace, love and peace will follow in overflow