Hiking the Unknown

Makoshika State Park and Glacier National Park have some things in common.

They are both in Montana. They both offer spectacular views of the natural world. And I hiked in both of them last week.

The trails could not have been more different.

Makoshika is arid and rocky, sporting cacti and rattlesnakes. 

Glacier is vibrant and lush, full of waterfalls and wildflowers.

I didn’t know what would be around the bend of any of the trails. I did not care for the crumbling cliffs of Makoshika, and my sons stumbled onto a rattlesnake there. I lost sight of the beauty of a natural bridge and the colorful layers of rocks on the hills because I was so fearful about what might be around the next bend.

I carried my fear to Glacier, where we hiked a trail through the fog on the top of Logan’s Pass. I couldn’t see very far in front of my feet, and I knew if I could, it would make me nervous.

Suddenly, the fog lifted, and I was standing in an open glade of wildflowers that swayed in the wind, chuckling at my anxiety.

I thought about what the Apostle Paul had said to the Corinthians: “Now, I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.”

This life is so full of uncertainty. I don’t know what awaits me on each hiking trail, much less what might happen next week or next year.

But there are some things that are known.

The first is that God knows me. He knows me fully. He made me, and I am His.

The second is that He invites me to know Him and promises that one day, I will know Him fully. He isn’t like my hiking trails. He never changes. His steadfast love is the same from the day I took my first step to today, when I am stepping over mountaintops in the fog. He is God, and there is no other.

Jesus told His disciples: “Follow Me.”

He knew them fully, and He knew the roads that they would walk. No cliffs, snakes, or bends in the trail surprise Him. He invited them simply to know Him and to follow wherever He led. 

He invites me and you to do the same.

The beauty of His wildflowers filled my empty soul as I followed Him. They bobbed and dipped in the breeze, shining in the light of His glory, like a promise of His presence and His goodness no matter what trail He might lead me to next. 

The Apostle Paul finished his thought to the Corinthians with these well-known words: “So now, faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”

God is love, and no trail that we could walk on will change that. Following Him now requires faith and hope, but when we know Him fully in heaven, we will have metamorphosed from them to live moment by moment in the light of His love. 

Then, the uncomfortable parts of the trail will fade into dim memory as we bask in the steadfastness of His love that has been here all along.