Thoughts: Life's Mountains

Jesus taught that having faith the size of a mustard seed had the potential to move mountains, but that doesn't necessarily mean the entire mountain moves in an instant. There are many ways to move a mountain.

1. Dynamite--blow it up
1. What might be the impact of a sudden explosion?
2. A blast leaves a great amount of debris scattered over a wide area.
3. Blowing up the mountain certainly eliminates it quickly.
4. When might we need our mountain dynamited?
2.  Bulldozer
1. Definitely slower than dynamite, but the overall impact is also smaller. 
2. Care is taken to remove the debris one truck at a time.
3. Usually involves other people.
3. Shovel
1. This is by far the slowest way to move a mountain.
2. Can be done with one person.
3. Progress can seem almost non-existent. 

Here's a question: Do you really need to move the entire mountain? Have you looked at other options?

• Build a road/trail over the mountain.
• Go around the mountain.
• Dig a tunnel through the mountain.

 Before we go and tackle our mountain, we need to consider exactly why we must remove it.
List your current mountains

• Which one is closest?
• Which is highest?
• Which would be easiest to handle?
• Are there some closer than others?

*God has promised to be our guide through our mountains. Are you using your guide, or trying to tackle the mountain on your own?
*Are there others on your mountain?
*Sometimes God takes you through the mountain. You may emerge on the other side dirty and scraped, but you emerge safely.
*Sometimes when we pray for God to "cast our mountain into the sea," all we can see is what the mountain is doing to us and God can see how the mountain impacts others and so, instead of dynamite, He chooses a slower removal.
*If we keep our eyes on God, the mountains don't seem so high.

*When I was trying to learn to repel,I learned that the only thing that stood between me and the ground was the repelling rope and the one on belay. The rope incidentally had a certain amount of stretch causing a bit of uncertainty when I first leaned into it. The lesson I learned was that God isn't truly God until He is the only thing keeping me from hitting the ground. I needed to lean into Him. He will hold me, but that also means I have to make my way down the mountain, even if I start to fall, the Holy Spirit is on belay and will check my fall.