mountain Archives - Diana Derringer

Give It a Whirl

July 31, 2023 Diana Derringer Comments 11 comments

In 2003, my sister and I served on a missions team in Interlaken, Switzerland. During free time, several on our team paraglided off a nearby mountain. I wanted to give it a whirl.

However, our team leader did not want us to participate. She was responsible if anyone was hurt. Out of respect for her, I stayed on the ground. Paragliding remains on my bucket list.

To give it a whirl means to try something.

You see if you:

Like it
Are good at it
Want to do it again

What we give a whirl varies greatly.

We experiment with new:

Food
Hobbies
Adventures
Travel
Jobs
Service

Although I did not jump off a mountain, I did give several activities a whirl.

I was able to:

Tour the region
Try new food
Enjoy other mountain and lake activities
Admire Swiss chalets and flowers
Eat lots of chocolate and raspberry sorbet

The greatest activity was to engage in international ministry, our primary purpose for being there. If you have never served on an international missions team, I would encourage you to do so.

God’s creation offers more than we can try in a lifetime.

However, we can enjoy each day:

Wherever we are
Whatever we do

“Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and all that move in them” (Psalm 69:34 NIV).

What do you enjoy? What is something new you would like to give a whirl?

Thanks to Matt Reiprich for the suggestion. Photo courtesy of Scott Wigginton, author of Adventures to Godliness.

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Make a Mountain Out of a Molehill

October 23, 2017 Diana Derringer Comments 3 comments

We often let the smallest problem bother us most.

We make a mountain out of a molehill. We make:

Something easy seem hard
A small problem seem big
Something unimportant seem important

Moles are small animals. So are the hills they make. Yet, we don’t like them.

They make a mess in yards and fields.
We may fall if we step on them.

However, if we watch our step, we can walk around or over molehills. We must climb for days to the top of some mountains.

Molehills destroy a yard’s beauty. A mountain’s volcano can destroy everything for miles.

We often forget how small our problems are.

Think about:

Colds compared to cancer
Flat tires compared to car wrecks
A bad meal compared to no food
A rained-out ballgame compared to an island destroyed by a storm

We may not feel on top of the world all the time. However, most days can be hunky dory.

Let’s not allow small problems to ruin our lives.

Rather than make a mountain out of a molehill, remember what matters most. Also remember, whether our problems are big or small, we never have to walk alone.

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they are good for us—they help us learn to be patient” (Romans 5:3 TLB).

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