For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest; Hebrews 12:18a
No one scales a mountain by themselves. There are always significant externals lurking in the background; causes, voices and people often provide the much-needed motivation to keep pursuing the promise of the summit despite the discomfort we feel from tired achy muscles and waning willpower.
At base camp, the camaraderie of fellow hikers fills us with hope of a fun-filled and pleasant ascent. And so, we set off warm, energized and eager to reach the summit in record time.
Midway through the climb however, the reality of the physical (and mental) endurance our quest requires sets in and returning to base camp becomes super tempting. This is when it helps to look behind us as well as forward (and upward) intermittently. While the faint outlines of high-viz jackets near the summit remind us others have been where we are (and felt what we feel) but pushed through, the rapidly closing gap between us and those just leaving base camp eggs us on.
Near the summit, with our physical and mental reserves more or less depleted, voices and causes fuel the final leg of our ascent. We remember conversations we had with those who had successfully reached the top while preparing for our own quests. And if we listen intently, their voices are carried by the blustery winds around us reminding us of how close we are to achieving our goal.
Finally, memories of the causes that ignited our desire to ascend in the first place come flooding back to us: legitimacy, legacy and loved ones collectively pull us toward the summit and completion.
But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and church of the firstborn who are registered in heaven, to God the Judge of all, to the spirits of just men made perfect, to Jesus the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel. Hebrews 12:21-24
