Untitled Reflection I

How complacently do we live? There is no growth, no progress, no evolution. We do not move forward. Blinded by immediate happiness, we keep looking at the trees instead of the forest. But the cross-country trek is like the wilderness—the wilderness in which the Lord subjected the Israelites to hardship to correct their ways. Does it make sense to march beneath a blazing sun in thirty-three-degree heat?

Of course it does. Why would it not? Time inevitably passes. Regardless of our will, time always moves ahead of us. What matters is how well we move with its current. By feeling the passage of time and reflecting on ourselves, we can recognize the wilderness not merely as a place full of suffering but as a place where growth rises like a shimmering heat haze. What we perceive as suffering becomes suffering to us. However difficult a period may be, what ultimately matters is how we receive it. The trek is only one of life's many hardships. Rather than seeing such times as terrors to avoid, we should anticipate them as periods of endurance through which we may experience precious, small transformations.

The wilderness is frightening. The trek is difficult, and I am afraid of what awaits me during the rest of my vacation. Yet time passes. We are humble creatures who must constantly strive to keep pace with time and the present. Always remember: life is a wilderness, and hardship is a blessing.