Going On a Bear Hunt…

I’m not going to bury the lead on this one.
It’s an age-old axiom that the only way out is through. 

If we are going to pursue dreams or desires or peace or anything, we are going to encounter obstacles. These can produce different responses in us, like frustration or fear or discouragement, and often the first thing we’ll do (if we don’t just give up) is look for the easiest way around the barrier that’s reared its ugly head. 

We might waste quite a lot of time searching for the path of least resistance… but when it comes right down to it, the way forward, distasteful though it may be, is through. 

And as we move through, the pressure and the difficulty are transforming us into a truer version of ourselves, who is actually capable of obtaining the prize. If we could have obtained it by staying exactly the way we are now– with all our same limiting beliefs, habits, attitudes, and behaviors– we would already have it, and it wouldn’t be a prize. 

The purpose of every obstacle in our path is to cause us to become more like who we are and less like who we’re not. 

The only way out… is through.

 
Mud. Why’d it have to be MUD?

The crucible is for silver, the furnace is for gold, and the Lord tests hearts.
Proverbs 17:3

Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:13-14

Be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.
Deuteronomy 31:6 

…for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.
Philippians 4:11-13

With your help I can advance against a troop; with my God I can scale a wall.
Psalm 18:2

But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day.
Proverbs 4:18 

…until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…
Ephesians 4:13

*We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, written by Michael Rosen and illustrated by Helen Oxenbury