Hiking the Cliffs of Moher… a.k.a That Time We Almost Died (Twice)

If we knew then, what we know now, we likely wouldn’t have made the hike up to the Cliffs of Moher.

Don’t get me wrong, it was breathtakingly beautiful and invigorating and every step made you appreciate the grandeur of God’s creation.

I mean, look at these views!

Granted, there was a wee bit of danger involved — eventually the only thing separating you and your kids from a 700 foot drop to the ocean was good sense and a little bit of skill.

Truth be told, we did almost die once on the hike — though some on our adventure claimed it was twice — so reservations when undertaking this hike are entirely understandable.

But oh my, the beauty of it all!

Hiking these cliffs made you feel absolutely alive — totally aware of every breath and every step — not so easily felt when you find yourself stuck in your daily routine for too long.

The simultaneous thrill and terror of finding yourself on the edge of a 700 foot cliff also naturally leads to a thoughtful meditation on the preciousness of life — a very good thing, in my opinion.

There is an ancient Christian practice called Memento Mori, “remembering your death”.  This practice puts in perspective the passing nature of life and the importance of pursuing God above all else.

This hike was one of those Memento Mori moments for all of us.

It’s not like we were facing death at all moments, but there were certain risks involved.

There was one little spot where the path had eroded away and you had to straddle over a drop of deadly heights, while you tried to climb below a barbed wire fence and get over to the safe path again.

More on that later, but anybody who would like to attempt this hike, especially with kids, be warned that this is one spot where you could die if you don’t practice caution and calm.

Oh, and pretty much half the hike follows quite closely to the edge of cliffs, which also poses its own dangers when hiking with children below the age of reason.

So parents be warned.

We began the hike in Doolin, which was providential, as the kids got all their energy and craziness out of their systems before we reached terrifying heights.

I couldn’t help but envision them falling to their death as various children ran to peer over the edge in that first half hour.

Those first moments were a wee bit stressful — okay, a lot.  You moms out there get this. You dads probably have no idea what I’m talking about.

Trust me.  It’s a mom thing.

But you know what, perhaps it was a good thing that I was stressed, because I kept repeating one very simple word of instruction to everybody.

“Stay on the path and you will be safe — stray from the path and you just might plunge to your death”.

It was absolutely true.  It served as a beautiful analogy for the Christian life.

The Christian path (the rules, if you will) are not there to squelch our joy — rather, they are there so we can fully enjoy the good things of this world, and live to tell about it.

Hopefully that analogy will stick with my kids long after this hike leaves their memory.

In typical teenage fashion, one child replied, “Relax, mom, a bit of danger is a good thing”. To which I replied, “pursuing danger for the sake of danger is sheer stupidity”.

In a stroke of poetic justice, this same child looked to me by the end of the hike with such sincerity and asked,  “Why in the world would you let us hike this? I almost died twice!”.

One of those parenting moments I like to think of as a victory in valuable lessons learned.  Hopefully she’ll take this lesson with her as she goes off to college. 😂.

There was something incredibly powerful about realizing the preciousness of our lives and the fragility of it — this lesson was not lost on my teenager and it was not lost on the rest of us, either.

It’s not that we had doubted these things before, but now we knew — without a shadow of doubt — that our lives had a profound meaning and value.  Which is a very good thing to realize at any age.

Which brings us to that moment where we literally faced death, if we slipped.

It was in that moment that we looked around at each other and realized how different our lives would be if one of us wasn’t there.

We became sober and serious about our task of helping each other around this most precarious spot.

At this crucial spot, John grabbed a post to support himself as he began to lean back a bit too much for comfort (the baby on his back wasn’t helping) and much to his surprise and ours, the post wasn’t connected to the ground!

The only thing stopping him from falling back into the void with the baby was a loop of barbed wire keeping that post from falling with him.

Of course, John thinks it was no big deal — but the rest of us watching him jerk back with the baby on his back were completely terrified.

As an aside, John later said that he envisioned himself somehow grabbing our little guy off his back, if he had fallen, and cradling him to safety as he took all the impact of the fall — all the while managing to survive the 700 foot drop into the raging ocean below and then swimming back to safety.

Just goes to show you that I married the eternal optimist — the complementarity of the sexes is alive and well in our family.

Honestly, it was a scary moment for everybody (but John) — but it was also a profound gift to have that moment as a family.

It reminded us not to waste the gift we had been given, because life is so precious — beyond our own imagining.

Guys, our life is so precious and I fear we just have forgotten that somehow.  How did that happen?

I just want to shake you and myself at the same time and and say, Let’s not waste our lives away.

Let’s not waste them staring at screens, instead of really living life. (Yes, I know the irony of that statement considering you are staring at a screen reading this and I writing it)

Let’s not waste them by focusing on accumulating material possessions or piling up money in a bank somewhere.

Let’s not waste them in feuds or by holding grudges against the people around us.

Let’s not waste them pursuing darkness or thrills that will never satisfy that heart God gave us.

Instead, let’s appreciate the beauty around us.  Let’s appreciate the people God has placed in our lives.

Let’s explore this beautiful world that God has created for us — for you and me — and let’s allow it to fill our hearts with gratitude for His many gifts.

And then let’s take that gratitude for the life God has given us and do something beautiful with it.

Let’s allow God to transform our heart and our soul, until we become part of the solution to the problems in our world.

You and I were not made for mediocrity.  We were made for greatness.

Let us begin to live a life worthy of our dignity and calling.

The world would be a much darker place without you in it, so go out now and be the light in a world that is desperate for it.

I believe in you and I know that God believes in you, too! 💕

And that is the end of the story of our hike to the Cliffs of Moher.  Have a great weekend!

 

Sharing over at Kelly’s