Steeper Mountains

It was 5:30 and I was still at the school, having waited for parents to get their kids who missed a bus. I was making calls to others who needed updates on how their babies had done that day and how our team could further support them.  I looked over at my own son, whose haircut appointment we missed because I was tending to other people’s kids. Going on a 10-hour day with me, he just smiled and told me, “It’s okay, we can do it tomorrow because I’m just glad you have a job Dad”.  As much as I believe guilt is something we impose upon ourselves, sometimes I think it’s due.

But in this selfless comment, he reflected a value that all my running late because I stayed to help someone else must have taught him.  While I was feeling guilty about what we hadn’t done for ourselves, he was confirming a compassion I almost overlooked but it dawned on me when we finally got in the car and one of my mentor songwriters, Steve Seskin, belted through the speakers, “Everybody’s got a mountain to climb…and most of those mountains are steeper than mine.”  He recognized that our missed haircut doesn’t compare to some other child’s school challenges, some other parent’s financial woes, another person’s struggles.

We can impose guilt on ourselves for what we don’t have, or we can extend grace to ourselves when we realize how much we do.  Looking at a steeper mountain extends grace to all and consequently ours will never seem so steep.