Psalm 121:1-2 – I lift
up my eyes to the hills – where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.
For a long time, I have wanted to climb the mountain
behind our cabin. My brother had been up many times, but I had never been able
to go up with him. He promised me that he would take me up, yet things kept getting
in the way. Finally, today was my day to go up with my Dad, and I was quite
excited. I may seem like a city girl, but there is a bit of a nature lover in
me that seems to creep out once in a while. I absolutely love being out in the
solitude of the woods where you quickly find out that you are not alone as the
birds are calling back and forth to each other, the bugs are darting every
which way, and once in a while you see a rabbit or a deer if you are really
quiet. There is a sense of peace that I personally feel out in nature where
time slows down and in that space nothing else matters. Worries and cares fade
into oblivion as if you are transferred to another world.
From our cabin there is about a mile of unpaved trail we
like to call a road that leads to the main asphalt road. Behind the main road
is the mountain that I climbed. As I walked the path up to the street, I could
catch glimpses of the mountain that I was about to trek up. From my perspective
at the time, it seemed so large looming ahead of me, and I wondered how I was
going to get myself all the way to the top. The closer I got to the base, it
seemed to be even more insurmountable as it dominated the view from where I
stood. Everything else was blocked out of my vision.
We plunged into the forest area swiping away trees and
brush from our faces as we pushed forward. The deeper we got into the forest
the more the ground underneath us started to curve upward. Soon I could tell
that I was not only going in, but I was headed up. Joking with my Dad, I told
him that it was a good thing I wasn’t a panther or something because I was too
loud in the underbrush to be able to be sneaky. Anything could hear me coming a
mile away.
Bit by bit we picked our way up the mountainside, and I
began to gain a different view of my surroundings. Now I was seeing the tops of
trees that before I had been looking at from the ground up. Steadily heading
farther up, I started to catch a view of the river. Finally, we had travelled
up as high as we could go, and we sat down to take in what we had accomplished.
Here at the top of the mountain, my perspective had changed greatly. It had
gone from only being able to see what was right before me to having a clear
view for miles. I sat there in awe of the beauty that surrounded me and
amazement at the change of perspective..
As we rested taking in all the sights around us, I couldn’t
help but make parallels to my own life. There are many times that “mountains”
stand before us blocking the view of everything else in our lives. Our problems
seem insurmountable and not able to be overcome. All we can think about is how
huge the issue is. Yet, as we climb to the top of the mountain our view is
restored, and we can see for miles around. Our perspective on the situation has
changed. Along the way, my Dad cautioned me many times to make sure that my
foot was firmly planted on the rocks before I took a step. If my foot was to
slip, I would have fallen down the steep incline very easily and nothing would
have been there to catch me. It reminded me of the parable in the Bible about
the houses built on the rock and the sand. We must plant ourselves on the Rock
and make sure that we are firmly established so that we do not slip.
Psalm 40:2 – He set
my feet on a rock and gave me a firm place to stand.
Psalm 121:3 – He will
not let your foot slip.
As I begin to take God’s perspective on my life, things
change. I no longer see the mountains in front of me as problems that can’t be
faced. I see them as an adventure to climb, and when I get to the top, I will
have a magnificent view. Yes, the going may be tough, and there will be points
where it is not fun at all. But as I keep my feet grounded on the Rock, I will
not slip and fall, and I will be able to make it to the top where beauty awaits
me.
