Mountainside Reliance
Written and posted: February 2012
I haven’t posted in nearly a month for many reasons. I don’t know about you, but sometimes I mentally fall into a ditch, and then I walk in that ditch for a while and I meet a bunch of interesting ditch dwellers who all encourage and inspire me to climb back out. About a month ago my brain fell into a writing ditch. We were in the process of buying a house, my job was wearing me down, and what little spare time I had was much needed relaxation time with my husband. I occasionally would pull up my blog, stare at the main page for a minute and then close the computer. I simply didn’t have anything to say.
Despite my enthusiasm for art, I am terrible at drawing. So I apologize for the stick figures. I must be honest and present this little story to you the same way it appeared in my head. Unfortunately, that means I drew some stick figures :-).
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| A mountain |
In life we are confronted by many mountains. Some mountains we see clearly as we approach from a distance, some mountains shoot up out of the ground directly in front of us, but one thing remains true about the mountains in life: All mountains are difficult to pass.
 Me pushing a mountain |
I find myself pushing the mountains in my path hoping to make them move out of the way.
 Me stuck on the side of a mountain asking God for help |
Sometimes I try to climb the mountains, but near the middle I get stuck and ask God for help. I sit there, stuck in the middle of the mountain, pleading with God to help me over it. And He helps me. He shows me a way out. I thank Him for being a gracious, loving God directing my life.
I think this is the most common reaction to life and life’s mountains. We see the mountain, underestimate its size, and think we can tackle it on our own. Or maybe we ask God for help, but we still try to control how we climb the mountain and forget to let Him lead the way. Then we realize we can’t do anything on our own, and plead with God to show us the solution. He does. We thank Him. And then the next mountain arises.
But there’s another option to climbing life’s mountains. We are not promised an easy life, but we are the children of a God who wants to do more with our lives than we can imagine. We need to invite Him into everything, into every daily activity. We must invite Him daily to be with us before we are stuck on a mountain. Of course He will help us when we are stuck on the mountain as well, but once we are back safely on the ground, He wants to be invited to stick around. He wants that kind of reliance, mountainside reliance, everyday, whether we’re climbing a mountain or not.
 God will turn your world upside down |
Matthew 8 : 1 – 31 When Jesus came down from the mountainside, large crowds followed him. 2 A man with leprosy came and knelt before him and said, “Lord, if you are willing, you can make me clean.” 3 Jesus reached out his hand and touched the man. “I am willing,” he said. “Be clean!”Immediately he was cleansed of his leprosy.