Why a Mountain
How did I get here? (Sunday Reflection)
I began writing these messages to my Higher Power in 2015. I was in a spiritual crisis and felt very far from whatever God might be. I barely believed.
I decided to act as if, and to try prayer seriously. I started by reading a few devotional pages each day, and after wrote a letter to God in my journal. My rule was: it could be any length, even just a word. But it had to exist. It was my proof that I had prayed that morning.
For many years that was what I stuck with. I saw almost immediate results in 30, 60, 90 days and more. The more I practiced, the more I wrote my messages, which I did daily, without fail, the closer I felt I was getting to God.
And, most important, the closer I felt God was getting to me.
❖
At some point, a few years into this practice, I began to find myself in a very specific place each morning. I would sit, in my darkened room, and meditate briefly between my readings and my writing. And I could feel, very clearly, in my mind's eye, where I was.
I was in a high, Alpine village. There was a meadow nearby, with a creek that meandered through. I could walk to a ridge, and look on the valley below, which was idyllic. A wind blew up the cliff face and was energizing.
On the other side of the meadow, a forest with many forking paths. Some of them led further up the mountain and became stonier the higher one climbed.
There was a summit to be found.
My home, in my imaginarium, was a rustic cabin, set apart from the rest of the townsfolk, with a secluded room in which my mental double engaged in his devotions. I had a small fenced garden plot.
This place, and its contents, grew day by day, prayer by prayer.
Each day, in my thoughts, I would be doing something different, and this would give me the first line or two of my letter for that day. Sometimes I was walking through mountain meadows. Sometimes watching the birds. Other times visiting a nearby village. Looking at the valley, wind rising.
What was consistent was this place, this imaginary place. I felt elevated.
❖
This place has become a second home to me. I visit each morning, before dawn. It changes all the time. And it remains the same.
It is where I find God, and where God finds me.
As I thought about an online home for my messages, my mountain village stuck with me. Looking over a decade of entries, so many of them seem to come from this village, nestled high in the mountains.
These devotions come to you from this elevated spot, from a person who somehow happened to find themselves visiting, and dwelling there, day by day by day.
And so, I write these letters to you, whom I am privileged to call my friend. May you find a path to your own higher power in the mountains.
This is The Higher Journal: Devotions from the Mountain.
Thank you for reading. Thank you for being with me.
– from the mountain
Consider:
where can you imagine you might find yourself? What if you visited there every day for a while?
Reading:
“The present is the point at which time touches eternity.” — C.S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
❖
“God is not elsewhere. He is here.” — Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God, 1692
❖
“The kingdom of God is within you.” — Luke 17:21 (KJV)
Thank you for reading. If this helped you today, consider subscribing or sharing it.