Mountains
have been on my mind lately. In the scriptures there are references to removing
mountains. In the Bible we find references to being able to remove mountains
with faith: Matthew 17:20 and 21:21. The Book of Mormon also gives reference to
this in Jacob 4:6. That got me thinking, how many of us have actual need to
remove mountains? I don’t think the scriptures talk about that so that people
can go around just moving mountains according to their own will and pleasure.
Like everything spiritual, there needs to be a purpose for something to take
place. So why would we need to move a
mountain? There may be times, or have been times, when there has been a need
for someone to remove a physical mountain; but I’ve been thinking about other
mountains we have. They could be spiritual, emotional, physical challenges,
etc. Like so many things in the scriptures I think that these passages may have
been talking about different types of mountains.
Some
mountains we can just look at and enjoy the beauty of, or feel accomplished for
having climbed and conquered it. Others can seem so big and immovable we don’t
have any idea how to get over it, through it, or around it. I think those are
the times when we especially need to turn to the Lord for help in “moving that
mountain”. Maybe we’ll have some mountains that will be immediately removed but
often times I think we have to go through the back breaking struggle of moving
our mountains one shovel-full at a time. That can be a time of great
strengthening and learning of endurance for us, it can also sometimes wear us
down to the point we feel like we can’t move it on our own. The great thing is
that none of us have to move those mountains alone! With the help of Heavenly
Father, who so often works through others, we can have someone or several
someone’s right beside us shoveling away and helping us push those heavy boulders
out of the way. We have to be willing to accept the help though and sometimes
that can be one of the heaviest boulders to move.
I have dealt
with my own physical limitation mountains lately. I have watched friends and
family members deal with their “mountains” of different sorts a lot lately as
well. I’ve felt the help of others in helping me “shovel” and I hope I’ve been
of help in “shoveling” others mountains too.
In the words
of Rascal Flatts “walking’s easy when the road is flat, those danged old hills
will get you every time. The good Lord gave us mountains so we could learn how
to climb.” I hope to be better at looking at my mountains as an opportunity to
learn how to climb or be strengthened by shoveling.
