Saturday, July 18, 2009

Lift up your eyes to the Hills



We just returned from a whirlwind trip to Tennessee.... 2 days of driving for 2 days of relaxing. It was worth the trip.
We needed it badly- I don't think I fully realized how stressed I was until I finally found myself alone and stolling over this bridge. The woods were so quiet, the rhodededren so plentiful and beautiful. I felt myself relax as the quiet seeped into my soul.....
There is something about being in the middle of the mountains that no other experience can match. Different mountains have different flavors of course- and the Smokies- to me- seem comforting....
I can remember as a child, sitting in my grandfather's front yard, staring off into the hills. I remember I was feeling desolate- alone.... I must have been 7 or 8 years old. I stared out at the mounds of hills and quietly intoned- in my best, most serious voice "I will lift up mine eyes to the hills- where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth" I remember feeling comforted- knowing for the first time that there is someone bigger than me- that the God who made the hills was hearing the heart cry of a little girl.
This week, surrounded by His beauty and majesty, I looked up the rest of that chapter. (Ps 121)
"He will not let your foor slip-He who watches over you will not slumber;indeed, He who watches over Isreal will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord watches over you-the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night
The Lord will keep you from all harm- He will watch over your life;
the Lord will watch over your coming and going-both now and forevermore"
I was comforted by those words.
We had been in Gatlinburg, and the Great Smoky Mountains 20 years ago. When I look back at all we have gone through- I see that God really has kept our feet from stumbling. When I look ahead to the next 20 years- I am filled with hope. Right now, it seems very clear that His promises are true....



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