Do you ever have those days where you wake up super early and just can’t go back to sleep? I had that this morning. I woke up at 5:30 and was wide awake. I looked on my phone for a bit before pulling out my devotional to focus on the Lord a little bit. The words mentioned a windy path behind us and for some reason my mind took me to the mountains.
I thought of when I first started learning to ski. As children they told me to “make a pizza” with my ski’s. They don’t take you up the mountain, but rather up a hill. When I “graduated’ from ski school I remember being so excited to go up the mountain. When we finally made it to the top you’re given choices of difficultly for your slopes. You start with green, work your way up to blue and eventually, if you’re confident enough, you go down a black diamond.
I remember not enjoying it. The people around me were going too fast. My mom would tell me to take long, wide turns. To find a rhythm and take my time going down. It didn’t matter which kind of slope I was on. If it pointed down the mountain it terrified me. The only part I enjoyed were the flat parts that nobody could fly past me. As a kid, my mom accidentally took my brother and I on a black diamond. We didn’t even bother. We simply kicked off our skis and scooted on our butt’s down the mountain.
I say all this to say that it reminds me so much of our relationship with God. As children learning, He won’t take us up on the mountain until He knows we’re ready. Once we’ve “graduated”, then it’s time to go up. Like skiing, you go up the mountain only to come back down and to go right back up again. Up and down, up and down. I loved the ski lift and going up the mountain. It was such a breathtaking sight. And just like the lift, God carries us up to the mountain top. There, we’re able to take in all His majesty.
When you get there, there are signs all over the place to point you in the right direction. Every path is clearly defined by a color to let you know how difficult it will be. Just like God gives us signs, words, scriptures and so on, to let us know what lies ahead. Some of us like to go slow, terrified of the slope even though it’s not steep at all. Some of us like to fly to the bottom, possibly taking one or two others down in the process. Some of us like to find a rhythm, taking long turns slowing working our way down. Some of us even give up and sit on our butts and scoot the whole way down.
The truth is that we must go down the mountain. You see, I may have enjoyed the flat part of the mountain, but it didn’t go anywhere, and I had to work twice as hard to get anywhere because there’s no momentum to propel you forward. If I don’t choose a path that takes me down the mountain, no matter how hard or scary it is, I won’t really get anywhere and if I do reach my destination I’m too worn out to do it again.
There is nothing like being on the mountain top. In a literal and spiritual sense. Don’t be afraid of the journey down. It will be hard and different paths will be harder than others. Just remember that it doesn’t matter how you get down, but rather that you simply go.
“Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, surely I will uphold you with my righteous hand.”
Isaiah 41:10
*Side note: My son came in my bed as I was saying this into the voice recorder on my phone so I didn’t forget it. He came in a few minutes later having drawn it out for me.
Sunshine and Whispers 