A Mountain to Climb

I find spiritual imagery so comforting and so inspiring.  I've been thinking a lot lately about my mountain.  The one I climb in mortality.  Because, let's face it, the earth is not flat.  Neither is our journey here.

On Hilary Week's album "Every Step" is a song called "Beautiful Heartbreak" that speaks legions to my heart and soul---I feel this song about my life's challenges.  I first heard her sing it at Women's Conference in April with my friend Cindy, who is climbing an even harder mountain than mine.  I really felt the power of this song when she sang it.  Hilary wrote on her blog about writing this song:

"You know – when you go through something that changes your life forever.  Something you would never choose.  Something heartbreaking.  But you go through it.  You face it – even though you’d run the other direction if you could.  You climb the mountain.   And then, somehow, some way…

You reach the top.

And the view changes completely.  And you realize the climb made you stronger, wiser - even though you would never have chosen to make the climb in the first place. 

But you’re closer.

To the Savior.

And that is something you would never trade.  Even though at times the journey broke your heart, you would never trade. 

That’s what this song is about." 

But that is only part of what she wrote about it.  You can read the whole blog post at this link. 

Going along with thoughts of this mountain climb we are on, I have received another beautiful and powerful spiritual imagery to go with it from Elder Matthew O. Richardson's talk in General Conference Oct. 2011.  

While his talk was on teaching through the spirit, he uses a story from his own life of hiking the South Sisters Mountain in Oregon, from which I gained some pretty strong insight (and a very tender mercy from the Lord).  Elder Richardson relates:

"Many years ago my children and I hiked to the top of South Sister, a 10,358-foot (3,157 m) mountain in Oregon. After several hours we encountered a long 45-degree slope of tiny volcanic pebbles. With the summit in sight, we pressed on only to find that with every step, our feet would sink in the pebbles, causing us to slide backward several inches. My 12-year-old son forged ahead as I stayed with my 8-year-old daughter. Fatigue and discouragement soon set in, and she was heartbroken, thinking that she might not join her brother at the top. My first impulse was to carry her. My spirit was willing, but sadly my flesh was weak. We sat down on the rocks, assessed our situation, and devised a new plan. I told her to put her hands in my back pants pockets, hold on tight, and—most important—as soon as I lifted my foot to take a step, she should quickly put her foot in its place. She mirrored my every move and relied on the lift that came from hanging on to my pockets. After what seemed like an eternity, we made it to the top of the mountain. Her expression of triumph and satisfaction was priceless. And yes, she and her brother were, in my estimation, real hikers.

My daughter’s success was a result of her diligent effort and how well she hiked after the manner that I hiked. As she synchronized her movement with mine, we achieved a rhythm together, allowing me to utilize my full energy."
And then later in his talk he adds:
"With the current conditions of the world...I know that your quest to improve may seem overwhelming at times. Please do not become discouraged with your progress. I think back on my experience hiking with my children. We agreed that every time we stopped to catch our breath, rather than focusing exclusively on how much farther we needed to go, we would immediately turn around and look down the mountain. We would take in the scenery and say to each other, “Look how far we’ve come.” Then we would take a deep breath, quickly turn, face uphill, and start climbing again one step at a time."

I feel, in my own life, like I am only part way up my mountain, and while the summit may be in sight, I am stuck at the pebbles.  While I am a mortal adult, I am a spiritual child.  I have not made it up my mountain without a guide--my Father in Heaven, and while much of my progress has been on my own efforts and abilities (choosing to act in obedience to my Father's will), there will always come a point on the mountain where, no matter how hard I try, I cannot progress without a higher source of power than my own.
Many of us have heard the story, or seen the photo, of the footprints in the sand, the point where the second set of footsteps disappear and the question asked, why, Lord, did you leave me at this hardest time of my life?...and the Savior says, I never left you, I was carrying you.  Well, here is an even more powerful imagery of our Savior helping us--on that mountain--as that father helped his little daughter.  He wanted to carry her, but it was out of his hands to do so.  So instead, he had her grab his back pants pockets and as he lifted his foot she was to quickly put her foot in his step, and utilizing her father's energy, and mirroring his every move, relying on that lift that came from holding onto his back pockets, and even with diligent effort (endurance to the end) and what seemed like an eternity, they did reach the top, and glorious was their triumph.  This little girl surely acquired more than just reaching the top, she acquired strength and confidence, faith and trust, satisfaction and triumph, by having been aided to reach the top through her own diligence and effort, than if she had been carried the last remaining distance.  This is how our Savior helps us.  He wants us to do it.  He stretches us beyond out limits, but He is there to give us the lift we need and with his very footprints marking the path upward.  All we have to do is hold onto Him and mirror His every move, relying on the lift that comes from hanging onto Him.  And at the top of the mountain rings the promise sure and true that "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; they shall walk, and not faint."  Isaiah 40:31

The Millennial Reign will come with our Savior and Redeemer, and, if we endure faithfully, never giving up, we will soar above the summit, above the clouds and the stars, with Him, to Eternal Life and Celestial Glory...worlds without end.