The Slowest Hiker

The path to the lookout was longer than Isaac expected. He wanted to reach the top before the other families and had been counting the trail markers. Behind him, his younger cousin Beth was walking slowly with a grown-up.

Beth had a small backpack, but its straps kept slipping. Each time she stopped to fix them, the group paused. Isaac began making loud guesses about how long the walk would take. Beth looked down and tried to walk faster.

At the next resting place, Isaac's uncle checked the backpack. It held Beth's water, lunch, and a heavy guidebook she had brought to identify birds. She had been trying to carry it without complaining because she wanted to keep up with the older children.

Isaac looked at his own pack. He had room for the guidebook and offered to carry it until lunch. His uncle adjusted Beth's straps, and they began again at a steadier pace. Isaac stayed close enough to hear when she noticed a bird near the path.

For the first time that morning, he looked at something other than the next marker. Beth pointed out a striped feather and a nest high in a tree. Her slower pace had not made her useless to the group. It had given her time to notice things he had hurried past.

They reached the lookout later than Isaac had hoped, but everyone arrived together. At lunch Beth opened the guidebook beside him and helped find the bird they had seen. Isaac was glad he had carried more than an impatient opinion up the hill.

The Bible teaches us to help carry another person's burden. We need wisdom about what we can safely do, and we do not have to take over every responsibility. Still, love asks us to notice actual weight before judging someone's pace. Isaac's cousin did not need another announcement that she was slow. She needed a lighter bag, a patient companion, and room to contribute what she had seen along the way.