Best practice dictates that even before touching the wall, a good climber will read the route first, to make for a successful climb. This preparatory work allows the climber to visualize every hand- and foothold, imagining the best possible combinations that will make efficient use of every ounce of energy that will be spent on that route.
Ideally, good technique takes precedence over strength. For example, a climber shouldn’t waste energy carrying unnecessary weight on their arms when a strategically placed foothold would be much more effective. The oft-repeated adage is true: it is better to push with your legs than to pull with your arms.
Reading is fundamental. If it wasn’t, God would not have given His instructions in the form of a Book. God has ascribed so much power to the written word that He sometimes describes it as life itself.
For Christians, immersion into the Word of God is paramount. Attempting to live without it is like a fish trying to live and breathe on land. It would take a miracle from God for that fish to survive.
It is also good to visualize all the way to the point of completion. The climber should be able to envision themselves getting over every crux, imagine their bodies utilizing good techniques, and see both hands in their mind’s eye holding on to the last hold.
We can claim victory before we even begin because Jesus is on our side. If you fail to plan, you plan to fail, and if God is included in the plans right from the start, then getting the gold prize at the end is not difficult to imagine.
It’s not that our eyes are looking through rose colored glasses. It’s just that our hearts are seeing through the lens of God’s promises.
And we can declare with the confidence that His power can bring.
I miss reading. When I was in college travelling 1.5 hours each way to and from university, I would finish an entire paperback novel in one day, just during the commute. I could get lost in the universe that a good story creates. My eyes rove down the page, devouring every word by the sentence, and my brain is filled with story and characters and dialogue and plot, and I loved it.
Nowadays it’s almost always audiobooks with me, if that. When I do read, off of PDFs or eBooks, my mind would just not stay in the same place. There would always be something jostling for attention.
This is not an introspective. I know what changed. Life happened. And my brain, which used to be a sponge, developed sharper edges and hardened surfaces. The words just don’t flow inside in the same as before, as easily as before.
Someday, I will have the time, the attention span, and the undistracted mind, in a relaxed location, that will allow me to once again pick up a book and get lost in its chapters.
Til then, bring on the reels.