Mountains and Valleys

MOUNTAINS AND VALLEYS

Growing up in Mississippi, I never knew any mountains besides our own “Wicker Mountain” until I visited the Smoky Mountains as a pre-teen with my parents. We’ve been to the mountains many times now but it always takes my breath away. Several years ago my family and I were able to spend a delightful week in the mountains of North Carolina visiting friends. The friends we visited are mountain born and raised so they knew where to take us to see the best sights. After we got home I started thinking about all the things we had seen and experienced while there. We sometimes drove on the Blue Ridge Parkway and sometimes on a narrow (!), one lane road that curled to the top of Table Rock Mountain. We saw ski resorts and beautiful summer homes built on the sheer face of the mountain. I couldn’t help but wonder if any of the people who make their homes there in the mountains ever take the view for granted. Yes, the mountains were grand but also sometimes scary. On one especially steep, winding mountain road it seemed that at every curve one of our friends would say, “so and so got killed here,” or “so and so ran off the road here and plunged to his death.”

But we couldn’t keep going up and up forever. We had to come down the mountain sometime. And then we saw the valleys! Beautiful green valleys! Picture book looking farms and churches were nestled down there with the mountains all around seeming to keep watch over them. If I had to live in mountain country, I believe I would want to live in one of those peaceful looking valleys. On the other hand, my children, who are more adventurous, would most likely choose to live hanging out over the side of a mountain !

After safely arriving back in good ole Mississippi, I began to think about the mountains and valleys I had seen on vacation. So often in my life the Lord uses His creation to teach me lessons. Most of us think we would like to constantly be having a “mountain top experience” in life. Not many would chose a “valley experience” because we normally equate a valley with bad things. But this is not always so. We saw beautiful expensive homes on top of the mountains but these were only SUMMER homes. The weather up there is too bad to live there in the winter. On the other hand, the valley can be a place of warmth and safety in the winter.

We must all face the mountains and valleys that come into our lives. How wonderful if we could just be content to live where the Lord puts us. If it is on a mountain…..He will be there to share the beauty of the view with us and He will also be there to help us down the steep mountain path as we head for our valley. If we are now in a valley…..He will be there to show us the hidden streams and flowers and the beautiful mountains all around us. Remember….God is faithful and will not put us anywhere where He is not already there.

“I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.” Psalm 121: 1 (KJV)

“Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” Psalm 23: 4 (KJV)

May God bless each of you today is my prayer!

Marilyn