The Mountains Are Hidden

The mountains have a way of hiding, and this is funny to say, it is funny to think, because how can a mountain hide? They seem to do the exact opposite, they stand out, they are born out of the ground, meant to touch the sky, they climb, they stand, they stay, and we see them, but yet we do not.

My family and I, we live in the true old west, in the middle of huge desert areas, plains that stretch and yet everywhere you look around, there they are, the mountains, climbing to the sky, touching clouds, giving us the most beautiful of sights, and in all our hearts we yearn to know the mountain, to climb it, to see it.

Today I was driving into town, I see these mountains every day, they stretch so far I have yet to find where they end, or where they start, endless mountains, and yet only on these cloudy days that are so rare in the desert, can I finally see the mountains, only when between the clouds the sun is finally able to shine through and hit the mountainside can I really see, I see trees, I see markings, the terrain, the green, the colors, who this mountain is, only when the light finally shines through the darkness can I see.

and isn’t that so much of what we are?

isn’t that me? is that not you?

is christ not that light?

you see, only in darkness can the light be truly seen for how much it shines, the same goes for God’s mercy, it has been in the darkest moments of my life that His light shines the brightest exactly because of the darkness around, it is finally in those dark days that I stretch my hands to the heavens and I see the light, I see who I am, I see who He is and what He has done. but endless sunshine blinds us too, you look at the mountain and it is just there, undetailed, someone you see but you do not know, a place out there you see, and yet still a stranger, this is who we are, we run from pain, from darkness, from what might force us to see, but it is only when something breaks the constant light, that is when we finally notice what has been in front of us the entire time,

the mountain has always been there, it never changed, it never hid and yet I could not see it, not until the clouds came, not until the light had something to break, and this is how it is with everything that matters.. with who we are, with God, with the parts of life we overlook, and I am convinced dear friend that nothing was ever hidden from us, we just needed something to change in us, so that we could finally see.