Poem - A Different Point of View

Our sons participated in the scouting program while growing up.  They endured cold, fatigue and food prepared by other scouts.  One hike was particularly grueling. (Bill also went on this hike.) The trail was overgrown and they found themselves backtracking from impassable cliffs and ended up bushwhacking through miles of scrub oak brush.  It tested them individually and bonded them as a group.  They often look back on this experience and the lessons they learned together.

A Different Point of View

United in purpose, their goal barely in sight

   Test of will, endurance, the scouts stayed out another night

Lifting, encouraging, sharing the load

   A prayer in each heart, a brief call to home

Struggling, straining, grabbing a hand

   Both young and old, all brothers, all men

Beyond the trial of mountain, now, testing the soul

   Realizing someone far greater was in control

With faith, hope and courage, maintaining the pace

   Finally, arriving homeward to loved ones embrace

The purpose magnified, lessons not soon forgotten

   Knowing leaders both seen, and unseen, had taught them

The journey once began as small to a few

   Now, seen through all eyes with a different point of view

Trust in the creator, brotherly love understood

   And the protective practice of His priesthood

By Janice Harten
Copyright © 2013 Janice Harten.  All rights reserved.