What is it with God and mountains? So many people have encountered God there.
In my longing to draw nearer to God, The Universe, Vishnu, Abba, Allah, or whichever Force you call Home, I’ve been eager to climb any mountain, I could get to.
I have specifically longed to climb Mount Horeb; the story of Elijah (1 Kings 19: 9-13) has always stirred something deep within me. In case you aren’t familiar, here’s a brief summary:
And the word of the Lord came to him: “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
~Elijah vents about everything gone wrong, and ultimately resulted in him hiding in this mountain cave.
11 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”
The powerful wind breaks mountains
The earth quakes
There’s fire.
Abba wasn’t in any of that… suddenly a gentle whisper,
13 When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.
Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?”
The wind tears apart mountains, there’s an earthquake and even fire! Yet, God wasn’t in any of those powerful, flamboyant things. It was the gentle whisper.
We expect such a big voice, from such a powerful force, that we forget how gentle it can be. The same force that created this vast universe with so many galaxies had enough dexterity to put as many as 4,000 muscles in the body of a caterpillar. The same force that erected these mountains is the same slow gentle force that drifts the continents.
We’re often so busy looking for signs, answers, validations and affirmations that we stop listening for them.
While looking out the window, as we climbed higher into the Rocky Mountains, I was so busy taking pictures and dreaming of climbing one, that I almost didn’t hear it.
“Look around, you’ve already climbed it. You’re here.”
I heard it, but I didn’t really hear it yet.(I was probably too busy boldly demanding that He let me hear Him. )-I almost left that part out my first couple times proofreading reading over this.
on top of the word by Imagine dragons shuffled onto my phone.
Followed by superbloom by Mister wives.
I spent the rest of the day collecting footage for this blog, worrying about my phone dying and suffering from delayed text messages due to lack of service from being so high up.( note to self to write about that in future blog post)
The next day while riding towards the Sierra Nevadas, Mr. Amtrak said
“If the clouds are this low, imagine how high we are”
The thought amazed me but I still didnt hear it.
I’m currently in Reno,Nevada staying with my cousin for a couple days. I can see the mountains from my window. This morning, I woke up and went to look at them. Right as I did a Hawk flew by and cried as if beckoning me to follow.
Surely, this was the wind, earthquake and fire that I’d been listening and waiting for! I decided today was the day. I’m going to climb a mountain. Shortly after noon, I put my phone on “do not disturb” and set off for a walk. 3 minutes in, I found a river with a gorgeous view of the mountain. I followed the river up towards the mountain but the road led to a dead end. So I turned back. Not soon after, I looked up to see two hawks gliding. They were close! so, I walked towards them.
I followed them down the sidewalk, across the street and down the next sidewalk. They perched on top of a church and I was able to catch up to them. They flew over me, circled a couple times then flew off. It was beautiful. I continued my walk.
I turned down a street and saw a clear view towards that mountain that I’d been fantasizing about, from my window. I boldy charged forward. While walking, a house door said “expect a miracle” I smiled. and kept walking.
Eventually I wasn’t even chasing the mountain anymore, I was just walking. At some point I turned around.- but I don’t remember why- I reversed my steps and used the mountains as landmarks, to make sure I didn’t get lost.
Ultimately, I ended up back at the apartment and looked up to see the hawks again. I walked towards them, but they dove out of the sky, as if they’d spotted food.
while walking back towards the apartment, I finally heard it.
“Look around, you’ve already climbed it. You’re here.”
Sometimes we are our toughest critics and that stops us from seeing our milestones. Every now and then we owe it to ourselves to look out the windows of our lives and admire the view of our progress.
“If the clouds are this low imagine how high I am”
I’m literally on a mountain. All I have to do is be still, listen, then go down and apply/teach what I hear.
It’s not the mountain that matters, it’s more so putting in the effort to seek silence or make space for silence. It’s also vital to ask yourself, “why this mountain?”
Musician Goes Monk 