MOUNTAINS

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MOUNTAINS

 

Faeries, come take me out of this dull world,

For I would ride with you upon the wind,

Run on the top of the dishevelled tide,

And dance upon the mountains like a flame.

William Butler Yeats, The Land of Heart's Desire

 

 

I lift up my eyes to the hills-- where does my help come from?

My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.

He will not let your foot slip-- he who watches over you will not slumber;

indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.

The LORD watches over you-- the LORD is your shade at your right hand;

the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.

The LORD will keep you from all harm-- he will watch over your life;

The LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.              

          Psalm 121

 

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I live in a valley

in a place of roads, towns, and people

 

I live in a valley

where life happens

with all of its joy and sadness

hope and disappointment

 

where the tyranny of the urgent is real

and sometimes,

I get lost

 

in the busyness

the mundane

the demands

 

I am comforted, somewhat

in knowing that even Jesus had his moments

when life in the valley was just too much

 

and when he did

he went to the mountains

for connection with the Sacred

for rest, for clarity

 

there is something about mountains

with their majesty and beauty

there is something about being on a mountain

where you can breathe deep

and see!

really see, how wide, long, high, and deep

it all is

 

everything

God, creation, you

 

When I think of mountains cannot help but think of Dr. Martin Luther King.

I have been to the mountain.

I have been to the mountain.

I have seen the Promised Land.

 

I love the mountains

but I live in the valley

 

Jesus came down from Mount Tabor

and headed down the road to Jerusalem

 

God is on the mountain top

but God is also in the valley

on the mountain, we gain clarity, purpose, and power

in the valley, the work gets done!

 

Paul Stookey expresses this reality in one of the songs he wrote after his conversion:

“And I wonder if you’ve ever been to the mountain

To look at the valley below?

Did you see all the roads tangled down in the valley?

Did you know which way to go?

Oh the mountain stream runs pure and clear

And I wish to my soul I could always be here,

But there’s a reason for living way down in the valley

That only the mountain knows”

 

let us go, to the mountain

where God will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in Sacred paths. (Isaiah 2)

 

let us go to the mountain

let us spend some time with the sacred

that we may be of some earthly good.

 

but let us remember that God can erupt anywhere

 

sometimes, as I live in the shadow of the mountain

I feel a bit like Jacob

who woke from a pillow of stone

in a very commonplace

and

while God's breath was still stirring the air

said in surprise,

“Surely God was in this place, and I did not know it!"

 

God is in the mountain, in the heights

but God is in the valley too

 

God can Advent anywhere