Near the city of Colorado Springs, there is a mountain called Eagle Peak which is popular among local hikers, and Scouts in particular. From the summit you can peer into the depths of the Rocky Mountains on one side and if you look the other direction, you overlook the vast expanse of the Great Plains.

Each summer the trail leading to the peak is trod by people who’ve walked its track before, as well as those who are going up for the first time. 

The first time hiker to this trail is generally always warned that the hike will take all day to go up and back. He is told to start early and to set a strong, steady pace since this is a tough and rigorous hike. The inexperienced hiker who follows this advice and plans accordingly can be easily disappointed and even become angry or confused when he reaches the beginning of the trail, because he can see with his own eyes from the parking lot that the hike to the summit and back will not take nearly half a day even if hiking slowly. 

So, he changes his plans and meanders up the trail, taking whatever side-trips and detours he feels like. He stops to look at things, snacs, and goes well out of his way to avoid some of the more difficult parts of the trail.

Then, about half way through the day when he finally climbs to the summit, he discovers that it was his eyes which had deceived him, and not the words of advice he had received. For, now that his feet are here on this summit, he can now see to a higher summit far above where he is now.

Now he realizes his mistake and reevaluates his time. He decides that if he pushes himself hard he can still make it to the summit and back before it gets too dark. So, off he goes at a frantic pace until at last he reaches his mark and looks up at still another summit.

You see, Eagle Peak has two false summits and you have to travel over both to ever reach the real goal. Our inexperienced hiker may try again another day and willl probably reach his goal this time. 

Yet, ladies, In our journey through life; being a wife, mother, homemaker, homeschooler, friend, etc., we don’t get to try again in another life. Yet, we will encounter many false summits that can block our view or cause us to mess up our pace. And, if we only strive toward those goals that we can see, we may fall far short of our genuine goal.

We need to keep our eyes on the ultimate goal and reach for it even if it is difficult to see, or maybe hidden by a false summit. We need to aim for the mountain top and keep going until we reach our real goals.

*This article was rewritten from one found at http://messageboards.ivillage.com/n/mb/message.asp?webtag=iv-rlsecondwive&msg=5168.1.