This was going to be my fourth time climbing Mt. Sinai. I wasn't really interested in doing it again, but I love the Monastery at the foot of Mt. Moses - St. Katherine's. And, my mother (who is almost 70) asked me to. What was I going to say "no?" Of course not.

Mount Sinai is 7,500 feet high. Sacred to both Christians and Muslims, it is one of only two places where God revealed Himself to the people. According to the Bible, this mountain was engulfed with smoke and fire and quaked when Moses received the Ten Commandments at the summit.

Climbing Mt. Sinai is difficult to say the least. To see the sunrise you must start in the middle of the night and climb continuously for 3 to 4 hours (depending on your speed). You need a flashlight no matter how bright the moon, and lots of water and some food to keep going.

Shortly after St. Katherine's, a monastery over 1500 years old at the foot of Mt. Moses, the dark and sandy trail winds up the hill. It seems harmless at the beginning, but even veteran hikers get tired sooner or later. We were no exception and had a few extra challenges. I had left the flashlight at home (really bad idea) and since we were traveling like vagabonds, we had to carry all our belongings to the top.

When the trail started to get steeper, my mom starting having difficulties. The air was getting thinner, we had gotten little sleep the night before and we could not see. To get my mom off my back about the flashlight and to make it easier for her, I started to carry her backpack - which provided temporary relief for her.

About an hour into the walk we encountered an older gentleman from Korea who was climbing the mountain for the first time. He was here with his church, but his wife had decided to stay at the hotel. Most of the people in his group were much younger, and it did not take long for him to fall back. He did not want to hire a camel either (my mom refused to get on a camel) so he pushed himself up the hill until he found us.

What a Godsend he was. Jimmy provided the much needed light my mom was craving; and for Jimmy, my mom provided company and moral support. She made him feel okay about his physical condition. And I was minding my own business and struggling with two small backpacks, one in the front and one in the back.

We took our time to climb up the hill. Whenever Jimmy or my mom felt like resting, they rested. Neither one of them cared about getting to the top or getting to some spot in time to see the sunrise.

Nothing about this trip turned out the way I expected it to. Perhaps it were the loud and rude Bedouins with their camels who never stopped asking you to hire them to take you part of the way up, or maybe it was the fact that we never really got to the very top . And then there was that half hour when my mom got sick and subsequently healed by Jimmy's Korean priest (using Reiki). She had me worried there.

Yes, in previous years I would have called this an "incomplete" mission, but now as I look back I realize that I am in charge of interpreting this trip. In the desert there are many different shades of sand - as many as points of view I can have about this trip. For now, I pick the one that leaves me feeling happy, content and with a wonderful memory. What we really came for was not to see the sunrise at 6:10 AM but the journey and the sand.

Our descent down was the most wonderful trip ever. We walked slowly and by the time we passed Elijah's Hollow, where the prophet Elijah heard the voice of God after fleeing the wrath of Jezebel, we were all alone, a gift almost too precious to bear. With our feet digging into the sand, we sat under the 500 year old cypress trees that represent God's presence and counted our blessings.

"Go confidently in the direction of your dreams! Live the life you've imagined. As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness."

- Henry David Thoreau

Take a moment to think about the things that are physically challenging for you. Perhaps there are things you have always wanted to do but you think that you can't. What about that diet or exercise program you have been wanting to do or that hike you have been dying to take?

Perhaps it is more your mind than your body that is saying "No." Today, I challenge you to take a look at your body. No matter what shape you are in, you can always take better care of yourself. Now for some of you, that means doing less.

Write down at least three things you can do in the next few months to take better care of your body.

A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new.

Albert Einstein

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