Wasted Energy

When I was a Boy Scout growing up, every year we would hike the Grand Canyon.
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This is one of the benefits of being a Boy Scout in Arizona.
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The first two years, we hiked the "Bright Angel" trail (one of the best known and most trafficked trails at the Grand Canyon).
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After that, we hiked in through the Havasupai entrace; a longer path that takes you past three stunning systems of waterfalls.
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The big difference between the two was that the Havasupai hike was about a mile longer, and much of it was not on solid path, but walking on fine sand. For that reason, all those of us who considered ourselves "experienced" hikers were surprised the first year when we were so much more tired than we had been hiking the Bright Angel trail.
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It turns out hiking on sand is much harder, because so much of your energy is wasted on each step as the ground shifts beneath your feet.
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This image came to my mind this morning when I read one of the assigned passages, and the words of a famous hymn immediately came to mind:
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Even though there may be so-called gods—for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. 1 Corinthians 8:5–6
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My hope is built on nothing less
Than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
No merit of my own I claim
but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ the solid rock I stand,
all other ground is sinking sand.
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It turns out we waste a lot of energy trusting in things that turn out to be "shifting sand."
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In the end, my ultimate hope is not in my abilities...should I live long enough, those abilities will slowly fade. (Something my daughter learns today, as she goes in for surgery on her elbow, thus ending her time in gymnastics).
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In the end, my ultimate hope is not in my account balances...eventually, those balances will be zero.
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In the end, my hope is built on nothing less than Love (capital L); a Love that will never fail.
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May we begin and end this day resting in that Love that will never let us go. Then, whatever happens today...whatever sands shift beneath our feet, we will still find bedrock for the journey.