God Likes Mountains

God, I am convinced likes mountains.  While there something amazing happens for Jesus is seen in blazing white and in the company of Moses and Elijah.  A moment so incredible and transformative for the disciples with him.  Perhaps this is where we get the phrase a “mountain top” experience. Referring to the feeling one has when one has experienced something wonderful and life changing.  Truth is, the mountain top experience does not last forever. There are other challenges to face, other things to do.  It’s not that such experiences don’t change us, indeed we are transformed by them.  But we cannot stay on top of the mountain forever.

Our lives are filled with both mountains and valleys. Highs and lows. There are good days and bad days.  Faith is no different.

And so we may doubt the the existence of God at times or at the very least wonder what is going on in a world filled with the senselessness of war, poverty, starvation, ecological destruction, homelessness, worldwide economic “whatever”, disease, cancer and a host of God knows what else?  These things alone are enough to knock us completely off the mountain top and pop that balloon of joy and happiness as we are seemingly pushed down the mountain into the valley of despair.

God is not only a God of the mountain top, but also a God of the Valleys. And if you think about it, with a a few exceptions here and there, most of us don’t live on mountains at all, figuratively or literally,.  We are Valley people, rooted to lands that live in the at the base of the peaks.  This is a fundamental message as we move forward into the season of Lent that begins with Ash Wednesday.   On that day we are faced with our mortality, and are reminded that we are not alone.  God is not far or distant, but ever present with us both on the mountain and in the valley.  In moments of the silly pettiness of our wants, or the mountain highs, or the valley lows of sadness.  In them all, God is there.