Theres a hill called Potts hill near Levin where I live. Its a long gradual climb up to a flat area which is a bit higher than the rest of the land around it. Its a really unusual hill because the weather affects just how much you see around it. On a clear day you can see to the horizon. On a cloudy day all you can see is a couple of hundred metres around you.
Yesterday I was driving up the hill with some friends, and it was probably the clearest day ive ever been up there. To the north of the hill, maybe 150km away I could see Mt Ruapehu, and to the West 180km away I could see Mt Egmont. It was the most beautiful sight, because you cant see them clearly but you can see them rise above the horizon in an ethereal white peak. You cant help but be amazed at the sight.
I was thinking about that during the rest of the day and thought of two parallels in our lives that are very similar to that hill.
So often I hear people say they dont know what God is doing in their lives. That they just cant see Him working, or acting in any part of their life. What they fail to realise is that many times the reason they cant hear God is because they have distractions clouding their view of Him. They let so many little, or big, things fill up their time and their minds that they can no longer see clearly. Its just like the hill, when the clouds are down around it, you cant see a thing, except whats right in front of you. Its only when you remove the clouds, get rid of the distractions that you have clouding your life, and you will be amazed by what you see.
The other is, I frequently wonder what is going on in my life, whether God is helping, or bringing some plan through in my life. Ive spent the last 4 years of my life sick. Havent been able to work, at times been in a lot of pain, tired, exhausted, just from doing nothing. I know God is there and God is helping me throught it all, but sometimes I do wonder why its being done this way. When on the hill, your view is entirely dependant on the level or existence of clouds in the area. Sometimes, when were going through the dark places in our lives, where we just cant see beyond tomorrow, we just have to trust that the our lives are leading somewhere, that the road does continue beyond the clouds surrounding us. Other times we will reach that time when all of a sudden the clouds are gone, and for just that brief moment we can see so far. We know everything that is ahead of us, with a clarity that can come only from God. But even being able to see that mountain far off in the distance, you have to just trust that its there, you have no way of knowing that this ethereal peak rising in the distance is in fact there. You can only have faith that what you see in your future is really there. Trust in God and all that He can and will give you.
Yesterday I was driving up the hill with some friends, and it was probably the clearest day ive ever been up there. To the north of the hill, maybe 150km away I could see Mt Ruapehu, and to the West 180km away I could see Mt Egmont. It was the most beautiful sight, because you cant see them clearly but you can see them rise above the horizon in an ethereal white peak. You cant help but be amazed at the sight.
I was thinking about that during the rest of the day and thought of two parallels in our lives that are very similar to that hill.
So often I hear people say they dont know what God is doing in their lives. That they just cant see Him working, or acting in any part of their life. What they fail to realise is that many times the reason they cant hear God is because they have distractions clouding their view of Him. They let so many little, or big, things fill up their time and their minds that they can no longer see clearly. Its just like the hill, when the clouds are down around it, you cant see a thing, except whats right in front of you. Its only when you remove the clouds, get rid of the distractions that you have clouding your life, and you will be amazed by what you see.
The other is, I frequently wonder what is going on in my life, whether God is helping, or bringing some plan through in my life. Ive spent the last 4 years of my life sick. Havent been able to work, at times been in a lot of pain, tired, exhausted, just from doing nothing. I know God is there and God is helping me throught it all, but sometimes I do wonder why its being done this way. When on the hill, your view is entirely dependant on the level or existence of clouds in the area. Sometimes, when were going through the dark places in our lives, where we just cant see beyond tomorrow, we just have to trust that the our lives are leading somewhere, that the road does continue beyond the clouds surrounding us. Other times we will reach that time when all of a sudden the clouds are gone, and for just that brief moment we can see so far. We know everything that is ahead of us, with a clarity that can come only from God. But even being able to see that mountain far off in the distance, you have to just trust that its there, you have no way of knowing that this ethereal peak rising in the distance is in fact there. You can only have faith that what you see in your future is really there. Trust in God and all that He can and will give you.