Mountains to Climb

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In life, we all have mountains we must climb, but it is up to us whether or not we conquer them and get to the view.

I grew up in the crowded valley of La Molina, Lima, Peru. My childhood home was built on a rocky mountainside. My dad would guide us four kids up the mountain (ok, some may call it a hill, but for a kid it was a full-fledged mountain). Then together we’d climb up the string of mountains slanting around the valley. I remember one time we went far enough to turn around and watch as the distant sun slanted into the ocean stirring against the horizon.

Two Saturdays ago, two of my cousins, my sister, and I decided to climb up the mountain again. We began by spending half an hour trailing through nearby neighborhoods, searching for a suitable empty lot that led up the mountainside. At last we found one.

We climbed together up the mountainside and we kept climbing, next to barb wire fences and over crumbling rocky ground. A stray dog tailed us, and cacti spiked around us, but we kept climbing until we stood on the mountaintop and brush our fingertips against the gray Peruvian sky. Below us lay white boxy houses measured with green tufts of trees.

We were not high enough to see the ocean, but we were high enough to see the world. 

I love that feeling of looking up and seeing nothing but sky. The world lies beneath you, like it does when you lean against the window in an airplane and watch the houses and cars and people shrink into boxed off shapes of greens and browns. Up there in the sky, you find clarity. It’s hard to worry about the little things of life once you see how little they actually are.

If you have a mountain to climb, or maybe one you’ve been climbing, don’t tire of the seemingly endless hike. It may be hard, but once you get to the top, it’ll be worth it. One of my favorite verses is found in Isaiah 40:31.

But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

When we wait on God, He renews our strength and He gives us the wings to fly, swift and sure as eagles do. So the next time you have a mountain to climb, whether it be financial debt or academic struggles, emotional hurdles or fears that overwhelm your heart, look to the One who made the mountains. Ask Him for strength and He will renew your heart. Ask Him for wisdom and He will fill your soul with peace and understanding.

Then climb your mountain, all the way to the top, until there is nothing but sky above, and the world is beneath your feet.