The Mountain Top

Have you ever had a ‘mountain top’ experience? One where you were over-awed, your senses and emotions kicked in and you were lost for words?

I remember one literal mountain top experience years ago when crossing the mountains in Victoria’s High Country. Stopping at the top, we gazed out over mountain after mountain - as far as the eye could see. I was overwhelmed and moved to tears yet felt the peace and presence of God as I took in the grandeur and majesty of his creation. It became for me a ‘thin place’ where I experienced God deeply in that moment.

In the Bible God uses mountains as places of encounter with him. Places of experiencing his presence and, for many, a liminal space between the old and the new. This Sunday we begin studying the transfiguration of Jesus. Prior to his death, he and three disciples travelled up a mountain. There Jesus was transfigured, shining like the sun and standing with Moses and Elijah, both of whom had also had mountain top experiences with God during their lives. What a sight for the disciples! Peter, overcome at the sight, wanted to DO something, but then came the voice of God: ‘This is my son…listen to him!’

How often do we feel the need to ‘DO’, instead of taking the moment in, listening for God’s voice, and just enjoying his presence? Mountain top experiences are not commonplace in our lives, but rather moments that bring encouragement, joy, peace, a deepening of faith and strengthening for the journey back down the mountainside and once again into life’s valleys. Psalm 23 reminds us that even there, God is with us still - leading, providing and refreshing us besides the still waters of those valleys.

So, pause for a moment. Remember the mountain top. Listen for his voice, even in the valley, and be refreshed.