Read my earlier post…MOUNTAIN CLIMBING before reading this.

The higher you go in life the higher the price you have to pay.  Anything worth having cost something.  In order to live a successful life it will cost.  The price is different for everyone, but make no mistake there is a cost.  You have to give up to go up.  You have to leave the old behind to go to the new.  You have to leave anger, hurt, bitterness, pride, laziness, etc… behind if you want to climb higher in life.  Every mountain climber knows what to pack and what tools to take on a climbing expedition.  They do not carry more than they will need for it would weight them down.  So what do we need to pack in order to climb in life?

1. Hope

When you lose hope you lose your will to climb.  But where there is a will (hope) there is a way.  Hope is one of the most underrated attitudes we can have.  Hope will not take the place of hard work and skill but it certainly will keep you going.  There is no such thing as a hopeless situation, just hopeless people.  Within every circumstance in life there is hope…someway, somehow, somewhere.  Just because things didn’t turn out the way you expected is no reason to give up hope of things to come.  Your best days are ahead if you approach life with hope.  Nothing is impossible when we were created by THE God of possibilites.  How hopeful are you of the future?

2. Teachability

You will not go far in life if you are not willing to learn and grow.  We don’t just go up the mountain of life we GROW UP the mountain of life.  We cannot possibly know everything that will happen to us as we climb the mountain of life.  We cannot foresee all the obstacles and challenges we may face.  But we can learn how to grow through them and make it up higher and higher.  Without a teachable attitude in life we will max out.  When we stop growing we stop altogether.  Growth = change.  If we are growing we will change.  Anything healthy grows.  It is dead things that stop growing.  If you are growing in life you will change. Change for the better and change your strategy and direction at times.  Just like a mountain climber has to learn how to navigate through the changing factors as he climbs, so we must learn how to change through the factors of life.  Are you learning through your circumstances?

Those are a few things to pack and later I will add a few more items to pack on our journey.