CLIMBING MOUNTAINS
(By: Mary E. Adams)
Children live in fantasies, with which they develop imaginations. As a small girl, our favorite game was "play-like". We spent countless hours dreaming up and acting out stories...as though they were as real as the day.
As I grew into my teenage years, I used to grab one of my father's National Geographic's and sit to dream of faraway places I had never seen before. Raised on the flat and barren lands of west Texas, a picture of a mountain was like looking at heaven itself. And when I saw the movie "Sound of Music" I literally danced over that mountaintop with Julie Andrews...I could feel the grass under my feet, the fresh mountain air filling my nostrils and lungs. That fantastic view from the crest as the camera soared over it like an eagle made me almost cry. How I wanted to experience...a mountain!
Perhaps it was hidden away somewhere in my genes (part of me had origins in Switzerland), or just a primeval urge; whatever it was...a mountain just grabbed my spirit like nothing else. I was 21 before I actually saw one. Independent now, with my own automobile, I drove to Colorado for one reason...to go up Pikes Peak. And I did. That experience told me that I would never want to live where I could not see a mountain...it was just in me.
Today I live with mountains all around me on three sides...the ocean takes up the fourth. High, towering, glorious mountains that glow with a warm magenta color as the setting sun rays bathe the snow capped heights in a goodnight kiss. Mountains that trap the winds and form the clouds that will water its valley garden and forests below with refreshing rain and melted snow to draw the salmon to its streams and bears along the ridges. How I love it! It is the picture on the wall of my life. I have no desire to conquer it....it has already conquered me.
In the Bible, we see that God always seemed to have a special interest in mountains too.He had his own mountains, special places He picked out for Himself; Mt. Moriah, Mt. Horeb, the Mt. of Transfiguration. Men had experiences there with Him that they never forgot and told others about them.
But I have come to think it was more the fact that mountains represented a drawing away from things below, to experience what it was like to be alone with something so massive...something with such forces of power that it had thrust itself into the sky without man doing anything. That, to me, was what was special about a mountain. And that I could climb to its heights if I wanted to, and see a view not possible from down below until man invented airplanes...kind of like what God saw when looking from His heaven. We could share something in common ...not possible until I came up to where He was. One with Him.
I also learned humility by looking at them. There they were, and here I was...a mere speck compared to their gigantic size. I was no match for such monsters.
It took me a long time to realize that I had always lived with a mountain, even when one was not around that I could see with my human eyes. The very One who created them was always there. Something much greater than earthly mountains, for even they themselves quaked and melted in His presence.
I hadn't realized before, how many times blessings had been streaming down from Him to me daily, inviting me to scale His heights and join Him on top...where He would show me through His eyes a different view of things than I could possibly see from my earthly vantage below.
Yet, like so many, I trembled just thinking about it. I feared to go there by myself. I wondered if I got to the top, would I be disappointed? Would my expectations be unrewarded?
But all it took was my desire, willingness and determination to go... For the moment I "looked unto the hills from whence cometh my help", He lifted me up on the wings of an eagle in my spirit and quickly drew me to Himself.
And the mountaintop turned out to be the very place where all my "play-like" imaginations became realities.
It was such fun, I still climb there every day....
Dear Reader -
Thank you for taking the time to read this. If it has ministered hope, encouragement or insight to you in any way, would you please take the time to send Mary Adams a quick E-mail at meamin@mtaonline.net and share the blessing with her? She would love to hear from you!
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Are you at peace with God? If not, you can be. Do you know what awaits you when you die? You can have the assurance from God that heaven will be your home, if you would like to be certain. You can even have that assurance RIGHT NOW! Either Jesus Christ died for your sins, or He didn't (He did!). Are you prepared to stand before God on the Judgment Day and tell Him that you didn't need the shed blood of Jesus Christ on the Cross to have your sins forgiven and get in right-standing with God? We plead with you...please don't make such a tragic mistake.
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Remember: All that we do in this life comes back to our God-given purpose which is to serve and glorify God. The money and assets we accumulate, the fame and power we've attained or seek to attain - all of the things of this nature will one day pass away, but those lives of others we impact for Jesus Christ will last for eternity, and we will be rewarded for the part we helped play by impacting those lives ... for eternity. (Matthew 6:19-21 is our assurance)