“Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.” - T.S. Elliot
The mountains are my favorite place to be. They make me feel small and I love that. I love the feeling that something is bigger and surrounding me. I think for the majority of my life, I have felt almost too big. Too much. Too outspoken. Too passionate. I took on the persona to be the “funny” one in the room or the one to carry the conversation. The older I get, the more I realize that what I really want is to sit back and rest. When I’m in the mountains, it’s a space where I feel the Lord surrounding and encompassing me. I’m reminded that i’m actually very small and there is this giant sized world that the Lord has specifically planted me in.
Each mountain takes on an important milestone the Lord has brought me to. These mountain top experiences are not without the grunt work of climbing and laboring up that said mountain. After all, the mountain top is not where I grew. I grew on my way up. I grew on my way down. By God’s grace I get a moment to see where the Lord is taking me in between these mountains and valleys. This, this is the “mountain top.” It is where the Lord allows us to see His glorious and perfect work. It is where we say “Oh that is why that happened” or maybe the Lord gives peace instead of understanding. After all, I don’t know about you, but I do not understand A LOT of why certain things have happened in my life. But I know that where there has been uncertainty, the Lord seems to draw in closer, reminding me His love and his Character. He reminds me His love is like these mountains surrounding me and there is no where I can go to escape that. He is at the peak and He is in the valley.
So dear one, “only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far they can go.” The Lord didn’t make you to stand still at the base. He is calling you out into the unknown to experience the great mass of his unfailing love and his un-thwart-able plans.
All at once I hear the Lord saying:
And dear one, you can go far. Your hand in mind, one step in front of the other. Let’s climb this mountain together.