Want It/Need It

This weekend, I watched three ladies I admire a great deal accomplish a difficult thing.

My wife Michelle and two of our scouts finished the Hiking Merit Badge by completing a 20-mile hike along the Yellowstone Railroad rail bed trail in Island Park, hiking from the Johnny Sack Cabin to near the Polebridge Campground.

One of the scouts is a rancher and avid hiker and wanted to complete the badge for fun. The other has some physical disabilities that make swimming and cycling difficult tasks, so to get her Eagle rank, she needed Hiking.

So both were highly motivated, and Michelle, bless her, was along for the ride. Or walk, as the case may be.

This is a good metaphor for life. We can often accomplish challenging things if we want them badly enough. And these three ladies did, if for different reasons.

There are also metaphors for preparation and adaptability.

I was driving the "rescue vehicle," in case there were difficulties along the route. I picked the route I wanted to follow by looking at Google Maps, planning out where to meet the group along the trail to provide assistance and a potty break when needed. At one point, however, the intended path was flooded -- literally. We were in water up to the axles and the next lake/puddle was even deeper. So we had to back up for about 1/4 of a mile to get out of the muck and then had to race to try to catch up to the hikers. We missed them at one stop, meaning they had to walk an extra distance before the bathroom break could take place. They were intrepid. And I was cautious enough that the only bad thing that happened was a missed potty break, not a flooded-out rescue vehicle.

Best part of the day was hearing their whoops and hollers when they tried to call us but the call didn't get through -- so we went to the trail and saw them coming at the end.