mountain perspective
When we first moved to Colorado Springs, our whole family was struck by the beauty of the mountains. Pike's Peak is breath taking. I remember thinking that no matter how I was feeling about our move, everyday I got to wake up and see this beautiful sight. This mountain has been a constant object lesson to me.
One morning soon after we moved here, I found my five year old sleepily sitting on his bed, looking out the window. He said, "Mom, do we still live by the mountains?" I looked out the window and saw what he saw. A dense fog that made it hard to see past our neighbor's house. Yes, the mountain was still there, we just couldn't see it.
Sometimes we feel like this in our lives, like a thick fog has rolled in. We know God has a plan. We know He has purpose for us, but we're not really sure what the plan is. I'm the family navigator. We tried to switch once. I drove and WonderHubs navigated. We ended up in the parking lot of a discount furniture store in New Jersey with me crying in the passenger seat. I like knowing where we're going and planning the route. I really don't care for the GPS and have been known to get a little competitive with it. When I don't have a defined destination and a plan to get there, it makes me a little crazy. I don't like when life feels like a fog. I want in on the planning. What I'm learning is that planning the route and choosing the destination aren't my job. My job is to take the next step. That's the neat thing about fog. As you step into it, you can see a little further. And eventually the fog clears, and hopefully you find yourself right where you're supposed to be.
Pike's Peak is one of the tallest mountain in the US. The other day, I drove home from the Denver area. Well before I got close to Colorado Springs, a snow covered peak stood above the horizon. "Could that be Pike's Peak? Is it visible from this far away?" I thought. As I drove down the highway toward home, it became clear that the peak that I saw, was indeed Pike's Peak. Something strange happened though, as I got closer to Pike's Peak, it disappeared behind a mountain that I knew wasn't as tall. It wasn't even sporting a snow cap. It blocked Pike's Peak completely from my vision.
It reminded me of how sometimes I just can't see God. God is unchanging. His faithful, stable. He never leaves me. My God is so big! He is mighty, strong and majestic. But sometimes, I can't see Him past the problems I face. The problem isn't that He isn't there or isn't big enough to deal with my problems. The problems is that I'm holding my problems so close that I can't see anything past them. When I loosen my grip on problems, back up and get some distance, I can see God, active, purposeful, working.
WonderHubs is an adventurer. He loves to drive all ten of us to some place he's heard about and go exploring. We've lived here just over a year, and I can't tell you how many times we've driven up into the mountains or how many different places we've ended up once in the mountains. On almost a daily basis, I see Pike's Peak when I pick up my kids from school. When we go up into the mountains we often drive past it. What gets me every time though, is that I don't recognize it when we make our way home. I see it from a different angle and it looks different from what I see everyday. I have a friend who has lived here longer and she knows that mountain from many different angles. She has lived in it's shadow, observing it and studying it daily.
When Jesus showed up here on earth, there were a lot of people who didn't recognize Him. As a baby, His parents, some shepherds and a couple of foreigners were in on the secret. As He grew, maybe some of His neighbors noticed that there was something different about Him. Once He began His earthly ministry, there were some who acknowledged His true identity. But there were more who couldn't be convinced that this carpenter was the Messiah. It makes me wonder how often I miss Him. How often I don't recognize His work in my life or His voice in my heart. The mountain reminds me that if I want to recognize Him, I need to abide in Him. I need to spend time studying Him, getting to know Him.
