At some point in our journey to the top, the footsteps we take towards victory, lead us to an inevitable showdown with the resistance; the dragon, who seems to await our arrival, in the middle of what feels like a vast and endless emptiness.
Visibility is low. The air is thick. There is no line on the horizon.
We find ourselves tired.
Tired and very susceptible to strange suggestions and fantastical solutions. We would love nothing more than to find the wisdom in someone or something that could guide us in the direction we know in our hearts we need to go.
It’s not a good idea to make any new plans when you’re tired.
It is a time to push forward or to simply turn back. It is never a good time to second guess the direction that was carefully plotted and painstakingly mapped out. There was a reason we set out sail here in the first place.
The Jewish people spent forty years wondering in the desert. Walking in circles. Trying to get to the promised land given to them through a covenant with Abraham.
It is worthwhile spending a moment of reflection on their journey.
At first it would seem laughable how they wondered aimlessly in the desert. Going around and around. Making perpetual circles in the sand. Growing frustrated and tired.
This would be the wrong moral to extract from the story.
Even though it is quite true that pushing forward, or having the courage to quit, always saves many years of anguish, either way. It’s the cunning circular motion of indecision that leads to more frustration and disastrous consequences.
The real moral of the story. The moral of a nation wondering in the desert for forty years, is the fact that they just kept walking. Lost and seemingly abandoned, but they kept walking. One foot in front of the other, they just kept walking.
In time, their stubborn leaders died. New leaders were chosen and assumed familiar roles, and as if by a miracle, in a very short period of time, they reached the Holy Land.
When we get tired, our feelings lead us in circles. Our thoughts put us to sleep. Our bank account and various news reports announce our imminent and impending doom.
When we’re tired, we must be firm and never change direction. We must get to the end. No matter what awaits us. Regardless if we live or die. Pass or fail. Find a drink or a mirage.
It doesn’t matter.
In either case, we will have an incredible story to tell.
We will not always be tired. We must never forget that.
Keep taking those tired footsteps every day, and let your weary feelings and tired thoughts come to their natural and inevitable death.
New leadership is coming.
Hang on and you’ll see the promised land.
Don’t give up.
