The Great Journey of Ascension
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And the days ahead . . . The exhausted apex climber takes a breath and lets her body go momentarily silent. He is nearly there; he can smell the clean air amid the heights of personal effort. Then, with one last breath, she pulls herself away from the mountain face to begin the final ascent. He matches each footstep, one step after the other, with courage, resilience, fortitude, bravery, discipline, and focus. She clears the top! Nothing is above her, and everything below is a testimony to the effort and single-mindedness that allowed him to overcome challenges along the way, like the stone in her shoe and the slip when he misjudged the stone’s integrity. Not everyone would experience a stone in her shoe or the dangers of a loose rock. Instead, others might experience a cutting wind or skin blistered by the blazing sun. While some would cry and sit on the ground as their frustration got the the better of them, others would try to help by offering to share their load. Some would r...