God Speaks Loudly in the Mountains

I sat with my feet stretched out in front of me, my forearms resting against the rocky ground.  The sun was setting and the darkness was coming, accompanied by the cool mountain breeze.  The stars began to light the sky, first one at a time, and then like a swarm of a million fireflies, flashing and dancing to the rhythm of the rustling leaves and flowing river. 

I stood up and silently made my way to the edge of the lookout area, being careful not to disturb the silence that had fallen over the others in our group.  The trees, which had seemed so large from the base of the mountain, now appeared to be bushes beneath my feet.  Again, I placed myself at the edge of the cliff and rested my arms on the guardrail.  I took a deep breath and began taking pictures in my mind to be certain that I never lost the beauty I was seeing or the peace I was experiencing.

Around me sat forty or so other students from my church youth group, all completely silent.  What was it about this place that could quiet even the most restless, sometimes obnoxious, teenagers?

Were we just exhausted from a full day of travel?  We had driven hours upon hours in tight vans where we got very little sleep; considering the fact that most of the young men were now running on Mountain Dew and licorice ropes alone, travel coma could be a valid argument. 

Although it is an idea worth considering, as I have reflected on this night from the summer after my freshmen year of high school, I have come to a different conclusion:

God speaks loudly in the mountains 

and when God speaks loudly, we tend to listen.

Psalm 19:1-4 says,

“The heavens declare the glory of God;

 the skies proclaim the work of his hands.

Day after day they pour forth speech;
    

night after night they reveal knowledge.

They have no speech, they use no words;

no sound is heard from them.

Yet their voice goes out into all the earth,

their words to the ends of the world.”

I remember sitting atop that mountain and thinking to myself, “who wouldn’t love this view?” 

Is there anyone who does not experience a moment of awe when they look out over a spanning landscape?  I have yet to meet a person that despises the natural wonders of the earth; everyone seems to have an opinion on the manmade, the latest iPhone, newest cars, even politics, but it seems that we are all in agreement about the beauty of a waterfall or the sunset.  This mutual appreciation binds every human using no words or speech.

We were all made to be in awe of the sunset.  We were made to be in awe of the mountains.  We were made to experience peace when sitting in silence amongst the trees, breathing in the crisp winds, admiring rivers that trail far into the distance.  This appreciation goes deep into our wiring as human beings.  It is so compelling that it causes even the most restless of teenagers to stop dead in their tracks.

“The Heavens declare the glory of God;

the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”

God’s works call us back to Him.  They bind us together.  The beauty that I saw from the top of that mountain left me in awe because I realized, for the first time, that nature is an incredible reflection of God’s glory and majesty.  The perfection and vastness of the views left me speechless because God’s beauty was so evident. 

As humans, we have an innate appreciation for the wonders of the world; we are wired to see the things of God and be in awe, glorifying Him.  The skies proclaim his wonders without using any words or speech, yet we quiet ourselves to listen.

God speaks loudly in the mountains.

A Pursuit

As the sun peeks through the window, she glances around her room now intersected by the streaks of sunlight and specks of dust that dance through them.  She finds the strength to sit and place her feet on the cold stone floor.  She does not think about how she got here; it is all she has known.  

Her room is small, the walls are stone just like the floor, and the lone window sits high above her bed, which covers the majority of her floor.  Her room is silent except for the occasional thumping caused by the slight movement of the walls and the gentle wind sneaking through the window.  There is no need to ponder the activities of the day; every day is just like the other.

She goes through the same routine she always has.  Her hair, which falls in messy waves all around her, is brushed with care before she slips into a new dress.  She puts on dainty shoes.  After her makeup is carefully applied and her hair is twisted into an elegant fixing of braids and curls, she sits down to read a book. 

The book tells stories of princesses, locked away in towers.  They hopelessly wait to be rescued by handsome men on horseback who come and battle dragons and trek through forests just to find a woman whom they have never met.  It is one of her favorites.

She puts down the book and retreats to her crafting.  She paints pictures of the princesses and princes, wondering what it would be like to be rescued.  Certainly, that would never happen for her; she is not hopeless like these girls she read about and she is not locked away.  All she has is within her reach and she is happy.  Still, she wonders.

When the crafting is finished and the sun begins to retreat, she lets her hair down, brushes it, and crawls into bed.  She drifts into a deep sleep.

In the morning, she arises with the sun.  She finds the strength to sit and place her feet on the cold stone floor.  Her room is silent except for the occasional thumping caused by the slight movement of the walls and the gentle wind sneaking through the window.  She does not think about how she got here; it is all she has known.  She goes through the same routine she always has. 

She brushes her hair and changes her clothes.  She reads her book and she settles down with her paint set. 

As she ponders the princesses as she did every other day, she notices something that she never has before.  Suddenly, her room appears smaller than it ever had.  The walls appear to be closing in on her and the floor, although always cold, now seem to be sucking the warmth out of her body.  For the first time, she realizes that she is alone.  Frantically, she searches around the room for an escape.  She has never thought of one before. 

A shiny knob catches her eye and she begins to pull on it hard.  She thinks that maybe, if she gave it enough leverage and maybe if she wills hard enough, the wooden panel it was attached to would give way and she could see what was beyond her room.  She tries and tries until she is exhausted.  With a heavy sigh, she falls to the floor and curls up in small heap.  She begins to cry cold wet tears, which spot the stone all around her.

Never before has she realized that she needs saving.

"Bring me my prince!"  She cries out.

The floor shook and in fear, she crawled underneath her bed.  The walls that once seemed so secure, now began to crack and crumble.  The wooden panel, that she so desperately tried to break down a few moments before, now began to bend and bow. 

Suddenly, accompanied with the loudest sound she had ever heard, the wooden panel fell to the floor.  Light, unlike any she had ever seen, flooded into the room and lit up every inch of what she could now see was a very small dank space. 

She slowly climbed out from her retreat, squinting her eyes to avoid the burning of the light that continued to pour into the room.  To avoid looking into it, she laid with her head against the stone floor. 

“Princess!  It is you!” 

A voice!  She had never heard another person.  Nobody had ever come for her before.  She looked up to see a man standing in the light.  He was strong and his voice was sure and commanding.

“Princess?”  She questioned.

“Princess!”  He exclaimed.  “I have been searching for you all of my life.  I have been knocking on this door.  Finally, finally you have let me in.  

Finally, you have let me save you.”

---------------------------------------

God often uses my love of writing to show himself to me.  Often, I find that I do not fully understand what He is trying to teach me until I have allowed Him to put my pen to paper.  Lately, my mind has been full of stories and examples that I have desperately felt the need to write down.  

This morning I was thinking about common princess movies and stories (don't ask…I swear that's normal for college girls) and I thought of something I never had before.  Why did these princes do everything that they possibly could to rescue these princesses, who just sit around and do nothing while locked away?  What do these girls have to offer?  And what if the princes got to the castle to find the princess and she just told him to go away?

HOLD THE PHONE!!! 

It was then that I realized that this is exactly what God does for us.  He passionately pursues each of our hearts, day after day.  We have nothing to offer Him in comparison to all He has to offer us.  He wants to give us the freedom that we desire and He wants us to know of our rightful titles as princes and princesses of the One True King!  Often times I think we can be passive in our relationships with God and unaware of our own imprisonment.  It is when we realize our inability to rescue ourselves and allow God to tear down the walls of our hearts and let Him love us that we find that true freedom.

I loved this little princess story He shared with me today, so I thought I would share it with you.  It helped me understand his pursuit of my heart and who knows, maybe you think in terms of cheesy stories too?

-Anna