Lift Up Your Eyes

The physical environment in which we are raised has a definite effect on the way we see the world. Having grown up in Kansas, my eyes are accustomed to looking outward across open fields to the horizon. Now that I am visiting my older brother in Utah, I am getting a taste of what it is like to have my eyes drawn upward to the mountains.

In scripture, the mountain is the place where Moses, Elijah, and Jesus leave their everyday life to encounter God directly; it is a place of transformation. Although I certainly believe God is present in our daily lives, something about the physical act of climbing helps us be more aware of our desire to be with God. It also literally provides a new outlook and new perspectives.

Although we tend to want to stay on the mountaintop once we get there, we aren't capable of living in perpetual transformation. We humans need time to integrate what we learn on the mountaintop. However, when we are feeling stuck, it's good to climb--be it a mountain, hill, tree, or stairway--or at least lift up our eyes to the heavens. Being rooted is a great gift, but our spiritual imagination needs wings as well.