Climbing The Mountain

This was the view from the top, but the view was not easy to obtain.

Allow me to start at the beginning: We were on vacation in Yosemite National Park, a place that is beauty beyond words. We decided to do one of the park’s signature hikes, a hike to Vernal Falls along the Mist Trail, with a possibility of continuing along the trail to the top of Nevada Falls. In short, this hike, while only about 8 miles round trip is a 2,000 vertical hike out of the valley floor. If you can do it, you ultimately climb out of the valley, which is already at an elevation of 4,000 feet, to the top of two water falls. The view is stunning.

Some ask, why bother? The answers are varied, but for me the answer fall into two categories: First for the view itself, and secondly to see if I am up for the self challenge.

Climbing, step by step to the top of the double falls reminded me of the challenges we face in life. We have so many mountains to climb, and we climb them for different reasons: Sometimes we climb because we have to, there is no other choice. Sometimes we are stuck in the middle, when we were in-between the two falls, even the return trip would have been difficult. No matter which direction we choose, the path would be full of rocks, steep cliffs, and treacherous. Sometimes we climb mountains to prove something to ourselves or to someone else. Sometimes we climb just to see what the path will offer.

When we were at the top of the first falls we had to make our decision, would we continue up or turn around. I deeply wanted to continue up, but I was not sure my body would endure. Breathing was heavy, my fingers were swelling, it was hot and I was very tired.  Could I do it? We continued, and I found myself literally concentrating on one step at a time. This foot was in place, now it was time to place the next foot, and it had to be carefully placed so that it wouldn’t slip down the mountain, which was a long way down.

I also found myself calling upon God to help place my footsteps. The “Psalms of Ascent” are literally that, as they climbed the mountains towards Jerusalem the Hebrew pilgrims would sing the Psalms of Ascent: “He will not let your foot slip.” (Psalm 121)

My climb was very much a picture of my walk with God: Talking with God on the way up, and down, standing in the midst of God’s awesome creation, giving praise, and calling upon God to watch the very path upon which my feet were walking.

What mountain have you been climbing recently? Has it been a figurative mountain or a very physical climb that demanded every ounce of your strength to make the full ascent? Where has this journey connected you with God?

The one thing I am sure of is that God never left me. When we finally arrived at the top and looked over the valley the view was so stunning that there was a hushed kind of sacred silence. That, too, embodies my walk with my Savior.