Mountains

​On this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all peoples…Isaiah 25:6

It seems like several of the daily Scripture readings so far this Advent have made mention of mountains.  I’ve been tumbling that in my head and when I walked through the living room and heard a commercial with Julie Andrew’s voice singing Climb Every Mountain I knew I’d better sit down and give all this mountain stuff some prayerful thought.
 
I grabbed a cup of coffee and asked God to make sense of the whole mountain thing for me and to be honest I just couldn’t get settled in.  I was restless and had too much on my mind to really focus on prayer so I asked God to show me what it was all about.  Still, I couldn’t settle myself for productive prayer because there were just too many tasks on my mind.  I asked him to show me and invite me back to stillness when he thought I was ready.  I did a few things from my to-do list. No, wait… I have to be honest; I picked the three or four quickest and easiest things on my list so I could feel superficially successful and productive. I even did something that wasn’t on my list then quickly wrote it down just so I could cross it off. Then I decided to get to the task I LEAST wanted to do.  I grabbed my book bag and set out to grade papers and update the grading website.  As I reached into my bag to pull out the papers that needed attention I laughed out loud again because what I slammed down on the counter was a MOUNTAIN of papers.  Now, please don’t call my principal and have me fired for delinquent grading!  Feeling completely overwhelmed, I decided maybe I should do the second least favorite job on my list; sort my “speaker shelf” (let’s be honest…shelves) in the office.  Again, I was facing a MOUNTAIN of files books and materials.  Not knowing whether to laugh or cry I walked out of the office through the living room and paused to see what Dave was watching on TV and no lie, it was a show about MOUNTAIN climbing.  It became abundantly clear!  I needed to climb my mountains.

Advent is the Church season that calls us to pause and prepare.  We need to force ourselves to still our hearts and ponder the magnificence that will be upon us in a few short days.  I think that’s where the mountain thing comes in.  Each of those tasks I was trying to avoid seemed like a mountain that would require huge time, stillness and discipline.  Entering grades and sorting files are not activities that can be done while watching TV or chatting with friends or doing anything fun so I suppose that makes them perfect Advent task; tasks that require stillness and focus.  God is so smart isn’t he!

It’s time to wrap up this post because I have to shift from Joyful Words to my own little mountain of stuff.  Before I dive in, I’ll make another cup of coffee and ask God to accept my paper mountain climb as a loving offering to him.  I’ll ask him to help me use the time to think prayerful thoughts and ponder the beautiful plan he had for our salvation as I patiently and lovingly tackle the mountain set before me!  One last thought…what’s your mountain made of?  Laundry? Homework? Cleaning? Email replies?  Whatever it’s made of, remember Isaiah’s words; On this mountain the Lord of hosts will provide for all his people.  Phew!

A Seed To Plant: Pick a mountain, ask God to help you climb it prayerfully and with your mind focused on the miracle of salvation that started with a beautiful baby boy!

Blessings on your day!