The drive from “town” to our house doesn’t take that long (especially considering that we used to live 25 minutes from the nearest Target in our last home), although some days it can seem like it lasts forever. There’s one spot in the drive that I love the most. It’s right as you’re coming out of a switchback and cresting a bit of a hill. To your right are some houses, but to your left is a valley of mostly open farmland framed with tufts of trees and perfectly sculpted tall mountains. On a sunny spring day like today, it can take your mind off of, well, just about anything. I absolutely cherish that two-second view during my day.
When I see those mountains, I’m reminded of God. Don’t ask me why – maybe just because they’re so beautiful… maybe just because they’re so big and permanent. Whatever it is, it turns my heart to Him in an instant. Some days I just admire them. Other days I find my emotions stirred on a strange level that goes much deeper than admiration. Perhaps it’s awe, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.
I find it funny, though, that as many times as I’ve nearly wrecked the car because my eyes are more fixed on the mountains than on the road, I still forget that those beautiful ridges are more than just scenery – they’re where I live.
I took a few extra minutes yesterday and drove around on some back roads between our house and a friend’s. Just a few roads over the view looking back toward where I live is absolutely stellar. Rolling hills, bright green grass and clusters of lush, dark trees – it’s like driving through a magazine about scenic America. Yet when I’m in the middle of it, I’m constantly forgetting how beautiful my surroundings are. I have to leave them in order to appreciate them sometimes.
It made me think about my relationship with Jesus today. We moved to the mountains partly because we love the mountains. Sometimes, though, the part that we love the most about the mountains is how they look from somewhere else. I’m not sure exactly how that applies to my walk with Christ, but I think that all too often I forget how beautiful this relationship between us is. I live in it every day, I drive up it’s winding roads and I’m surrounded by it’s hearty vegetation. Still, I tend to forget that this abundant life that I so often mechanically plod through is something to really behold. I forget that, to those just living on the edges of it, a relationship with Christ is so extraordinarily breath-taking in ways that they don’t even understand, that they’ll often wreck their whole life trying to imitate it while still living in the valley.
Those of us who know Christ and walk with Him daily have the privilege of living in a place of beauty in this world. Is it perfect? Not yet. But it is wonderful, and one day it will be completed. We live in prime real-estate, brothers and sisters, and it’s easy to forget that – especially if we never venture into the valley to remember what it looks like.
The older I get as a Christian, the harder it is to remember just what it was like to live life without Him. I’ve almost forgotten that feeling of knowing there’s Something out there that’s better than what I know of life, and wanting with all my heart to find it. I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like to stand in the valley and long for a place in the mountains.
I think it does us good as Christians to occasionally venture into the valley of people who don’t know Christ and to look back toward the place where we live. I think our hearts need to be reminded from time to time how beautiful and awe-inspiring the love of God is. But it’s not enough to just go down there for the view. We have a charge from the Father Himself to invite others to come back with us. We might be the only way they ever know that living next to a mountain isn’t nearly as amazing as living on top of one. They need this relationship many of us tend to take for granted the longer we live in it, and it’s our job to let them know there’s plenty of room up here with their names written all over it.
I challenge us to make the effort to come down off our lush hill and find someone in the valley ever the next few weeks. Look back with them toward where you live and show them how beautiful it is. Chances are, their hearts will already know it somehow. Our God is so big, so amazing and so permanent that I believe no one can miss Him. Ask Him to reveal Himself in mighty and unmistakable ways to our neighbors in the valley, and then ask Him to provide us with a chance to remember how beautiful our life with Him really is.
I’m thankful today to be living on this mountain with you.
When I see those mountains, I’m reminded of God. Don’t ask me why – maybe just because they’re so beautiful… maybe just because they’re so big and permanent. Whatever it is, it turns my heart to Him in an instant. Some days I just admire them. Other days I find my emotions stirred on a strange level that goes much deeper than admiration. Perhaps it’s awe, but I can’t quite put my finger on it.
I find it funny, though, that as many times as I’ve nearly wrecked the car because my eyes are more fixed on the mountains than on the road, I still forget that those beautiful ridges are more than just scenery – they’re where I live.
I took a few extra minutes yesterday and drove around on some back roads between our house and a friend’s. Just a few roads over the view looking back toward where I live is absolutely stellar. Rolling hills, bright green grass and clusters of lush, dark trees – it’s like driving through a magazine about scenic America. Yet when I’m in the middle of it, I’m constantly forgetting how beautiful my surroundings are. I have to leave them in order to appreciate them sometimes.
It made me think about my relationship with Jesus today. We moved to the mountains partly because we love the mountains. Sometimes, though, the part that we love the most about the mountains is how they look from somewhere else. I’m not sure exactly how that applies to my walk with Christ, but I think that all too often I forget how beautiful this relationship between us is. I live in it every day, I drive up it’s winding roads and I’m surrounded by it’s hearty vegetation. Still, I tend to forget that this abundant life that I so often mechanically plod through is something to really behold. I forget that, to those just living on the edges of it, a relationship with Christ is so extraordinarily breath-taking in ways that they don’t even understand, that they’ll often wreck their whole life trying to imitate it while still living in the valley.
Those of us who know Christ and walk with Him daily have the privilege of living in a place of beauty in this world. Is it perfect? Not yet. But it is wonderful, and one day it will be completed. We live in prime real-estate, brothers and sisters, and it’s easy to forget that – especially if we never venture into the valley to remember what it looks like.
The older I get as a Christian, the harder it is to remember just what it was like to live life without Him. I’ve almost forgotten that feeling of knowing there’s Something out there that’s better than what I know of life, and wanting with all my heart to find it. I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like to stand in the valley and long for a place in the mountains.
I think it does us good as Christians to occasionally venture into the valley of people who don’t know Christ and to look back toward the place where we live. I think our hearts need to be reminded from time to time how beautiful and awe-inspiring the love of God is. But it’s not enough to just go down there for the view. We have a charge from the Father Himself to invite others to come back with us. We might be the only way they ever know that living next to a mountain isn’t nearly as amazing as living on top of one. They need this relationship many of us tend to take for granted the longer we live in it, and it’s our job to let them know there’s plenty of room up here with their names written all over it.
I challenge us to make the effort to come down off our lush hill and find someone in the valley ever the next few weeks. Look back with them toward where you live and show them how beautiful it is. Chances are, their hearts will already know it somehow. Our God is so big, so amazing and so permanent that I believe no one can miss Him. Ask Him to reveal Himself in mighty and unmistakable ways to our neighbors in the valley, and then ask Him to provide us with a chance to remember how beautiful our life with Him really is.
I’m thankful today to be living on this mountain with you.
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