Moutain Perspectives

I'm in Utah visiting my foster family (my mom's foster parents). I decided to walk to church today (I have to earn my activity points somehow. I figured a six-mile roundrip walk would do the trick).

The best thing about Utah (well, other than being close enough to walk to Super Walmart, Target Supercenter, Krispy Kreme, Barnes and Noble, Borders, Starbucks, Chik-Fil-A, and Taco Time) are the mountains. Of course, I am not writing this from on top of one of those mountains. If I were, this blog would just be about how "I AM GOING TO DIE!" (And, yes, I am being serious about that one. High Altitude=Thinner Air+Breathing Issues=Dehydration+Bad Feet+Slipping and Falling=LISSA ALMOST DIED HIKING!)

So, I was walking back from church today when I kept starring at the mountains in front of me. And we all know how it works...the closer we get the bigger it seems.

Like the fireworks (by the way, fireworks are LEGAL here...in your face, New Jersey!) We saw some fireworks from a distance last night. It was like watching the fireworks on TV (and not a large TV either) with the volume turned all the way down. There's nothing spectacular about that.

However, I used to watch the Fairfax, VA fireworks display when I was younger. Nothing compares to sitting in the grass right under the fireworks. The ground shakes with every boom, and, sometimes, it even feels like the fireworks are going to fall on top of you (and if you are in Parsippany, NJ they actually MIGHT do that!)

It's so easy to think that something is so insignificant when it is far away. A mountain in the far distance may only look like a hill. You don't stand in awe of fireworks that are only a speck in the distance.

And when you're in the middle of all the noise and lights...like in the city....you fail to notice the true beauty of the night sky. The stars don't seem to shine as brightly...if at all. The stars we see are not small at all, but from such a great distance they're just dots in the vast sky.

I had a rough time with some things when I was a freshman in high school. During the first part of the year, I completely turned my back on God. The further I got, the easier it was for me to convince myself that I could handle things on my own. In the distance, God seemed so much smaller.

And the stars... I think Pmat illustrated that concept a while back. He had a candle lit, but among the desk lamps, the small, flickering flame was hardly noticable. Among the busyness of the city, the stars can hardly be seen.

When we push God away, and then get involved in the busyness of life it's so easy to almost forget about Him. He's so distant...only a speck in our eyes-so easily hidden by our agendas.

But if we turn off our lights and start to draw closer to God we can start to see how spectacular He really is. We start to realize that who He is is far greater than our insignificant human minds can ever comprehend. We realize that our perspective has been wrong, and that in the vastness of the world, we are the true specks. We are almost nothing in the midst of it all.