Necessary Mountains

No matter how tall the mountain is, it cannot block the sun

Chinese Proverb

“If you wish to move mountains tomorrow, you must start by lifting stones today”

-African Proverb

In the Bible mountains are mentioned more than 500 times. This suggests their importance and significance to us. Not only are they majestic and beautiful to look at but in many religions signify being close to the supernatural power of the Creator. After all it is where Moses received the ten commandments, on Mount Sanai and before that it was at Mount Horeb where God appeared to him in the burning bush! Noah’s Ark rested on Mount Ararat after the flood; Jesus was transfigured on Mount Tabor and there was the Mount where Jesus delivered the beatitudes, as just a few instances. So, Mountains have always been a source of forging and renewing our relationship with and commitment to God. It’s also where we can go for clarity away from the distractions of the world – the worries of the world fall away as we commune with God.

In our lives there are many mountains we will be faced with. When we are faced with them – speaking here about the really steep ones – our attitudes will determine if we can not only climb but conquer them. By now you will realize I am not referring to literal mountains but the pressures of life that stress us out. Just insert here some of the ones that you face now because we all can relate. Sometimes these mountains appear so monstrous, so disfigured and distorted, impossible even that we begin to lay out our surrender rags to lie on and just stop at the foot of that mountain.

All Kinds a Mountains

I am visiting my mommy in the country but today I had somewhere to go and I had little time to spare because I was trying to beat the midday heat. However, I had one task to perform before I left, I had to cook breakfast. Now if it were on the gas stove it would have been no problem, but it was on a coal stove. Any other day the coal fire would be popping -literally – in no time except today. Starting from 8:40 -10:49 (I was checking), the coal would not burn. Each time this happened that little voice poked me with a question. What are you going to do? I thought about crying and cussing and just giving up, then I remembered that today would be a good day and so I smiled and tried again. At one point a few of the coals where burning but then they began to fade out. Each time I asked myself how I wanted this day to end. Did I want to be angry, miserable and depressed because I couldn’t get to do what I wanted to do when I wanted to do it? And because I had committed fully to have a good day, I decided to work with the coal to coax it to where I wanted it to be, to get the breakfast done. When it finally started going at almost 11:00 a.m, by 11:30 a.m I was finished. So I ended up leaving after 12 noon in the boiling heat. As I reached the gate with my mother who would walk with me to the taxi stand, we saw a taxi coming to pass right by the gate! It was at that point that I remembered fervently praying for a taxi to pass by my gate early that morning before I had even gotten out of bed! I was not late I was right on time. It reminded me that what we achieve is not by our might nor power but by the Spirit of The Most High (Zechariah 4:6-7)

Mountains are Necessary

Mountains are necessary in our lives to build us up to the person God intends us to be. They are not to be viewed negatively but as sign post that we have reached a level of maturity where God feels we are able to conquer them and rise higher, closer to realizing and actualizing the power of The Most High within each of us. Your mountain may seem a lot higher and steeper than mine today or others around you. However, we get to climb the mountain that challenges the one we climbed yesterday. If we look at the measurements for all the mountains I mentioned above they were not all the same. It wasn’t the height that made them memorable but what each person was able to accomplish by having the mountain and mountain top experience. Not only were they transformed but the lives of those around them and those yet to come were also changed forever.