Zoë Watkins
On a whim, I decided to join a backpacking trip with Tennessee Baptist Mission Board’s Off the Grid ministry. I’d backpacked in Tennessee a couple of times before and liked the challenge of tackling an extensive three-day trek on the Appalachian Trail while getting to meet a few ministers’ wives and build connections along the way.
I didn’t expect to find the Body of Christ so clearly represented in the woods.
Around mile 10 on the second day, our fearless leader Emily Terrell offered to carry another woman’s backpack in addition to her own.
In turn, the woman whose pack was carried maintained an incredible attitude that encouraged the rest of us. Though some were more exhausted than others and some had more experience, instead of giving up, the women encouraged each other through every steep climb and aching step.
It struck me then how perfectly this mirrored Paul’s teaching about the body of Christ.
As the body of Christ, we each have different roles to play. Some lead. Some follow. But all of us are helpers in some way. On the trail, these roles became tangible — one person carried an extra burden, another lifted spirits with encouragement, someone else set the pace, and we all kept moving forward together.
B&R’s Zoë Watkins with Kate Henard pause for a quick photo near the midway mark of their hike on the Appalachian Trail.
“I was incredibly encouraged by the spirit of the ladies who were with us,” Emily remarked afterward. “Everyone was all smiles and super encouraging the entire three days, even when people got tired. We just had the best spirit, the best attitude. And so that was just so encouraging to me as the leader, knowing everybody was having a good time.”
We can’t all run the same race. God has each of us on a different path at a pace that may go more slowly or faster than others. And that’s OK.
What matters is that we encourage each other along the way. A word of gratitude or kindness can go a long way when you’re on the trail — whether that trail winds through the mountains or through the valleys of daily life.
It’s easy to be dismissive of people and to dismiss ourselves as incapable. We often operate with a fixed mindset, convinced we know our limits. But we shouldn’t limit how God works through us, even in small ways that seem insignificant.
Paul understood this when he wrote to the Corinthians: “And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of you: nor again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. Nay, much rather, those members of the body, which seem to be weaker are necessary: And those members of the body, which we think to be less honorable, on these we bestow more abundant honor” (I Corinthians 12:21-23).
The woman who needed her pack carried didn’t become less valuable to our group. Her encouragement was just as essential as Emily’s physical strength.
The tired hiker who kept putting one foot in front of the other inspired the rest of us to persevere. Each contribution mattered.
In Romans 12:4-5, Paul puts it simply: “For as we have many members in one body, but all the members have not the same office: So we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another.”
Those three days on the trail reminded me that the body of Christ isn’t just a metaphor for a Sunday morning sermon. It’s how we’re meant to live every day, carrying each other’s burdens, encouraging one another, recognizing that what seems like weakness in one area often reveals strength in another.
We’re all on different trails, moving at different paces. But we’re moving together, and that makes all the difference. B&R
