Devotions from the Mountains
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About this ebook
Do the mountains seem like heaven on earth? Do you find peace in the grandeur of God's majestic creation? Devotions from the Mountains takes you back to your favorite cabin in the woods, daily reminding you of the peace and strength that is found in God--the Creator of heaven and earth.
Devotions from the Mountains:
- Includes 90 daily devotions with Scripture verses, prayers, and breathtaking imagery of God's mountain handiwork sculpted and brought to life by His hand
- Is fitting for anyone looking for inspirational content about the great outdoors to start their day
- Ideal gift for people who love the mountains and enjoy nature
Lift your eyes to the mountains. Be refreshed and inspired at our amazing God, who is more majestic than the mountains and yet cares for every detail of your life.
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Devotions from the Mountains - Thomas Nelson
A HIGHER PERSPECTIVE
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,
declares the LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
ISAIAH 55:8–9
The mountains offer us a chance to see the world afresh. Whether we hike or drive, take a chairlift or snowmobile, we get away, breathe fresh air, and see the view. From high on a mountain, the world looks very different. We can see so much more. Roads dwindle into the distance, and cities look like toy models, if we can glimpse them at all. Faraway hills and peaks may take some work to identify as we see them from a new angle. The landscape stretches out before us, and we gain perspective. Breathing room. Our minds clear a bit. We get some distance, literally and figuratively, from all the things that stress us out. We are calmed. We breathe easier. Our nerves are soothed.
As stunning as that change of viewpoint is, it’s nothing at all compared to the difference between God’s thoughts and our thoughts. He sees everything, knows everything, understands everything. His thoughts and ways are unimaginably higher than ours. And He is love. Because we are secure in His love, we sometimes lose sight of how holy and awe-inspiring God is. Not that we can really comprehend how holy and awe-inspiring He is! But as much as our finite little minds can grasp . . . we forget even that limited understanding of God’s majesty.
Just as we often feel both humbled and exhilarated by the mountains, it is fitting to be humbled and exhilarated in God’s presence. We cannot comprehend His mind or His thoughts, and yet He kindly invites us to draw near. As it says in Micah 6:8, He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the LORD require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.
Dear Father, You are my Creator, my Redeemer, and my Lord. I yield to You, and I worship You. Thank You for Your kindness. Please shepherd me through this day.
images/img-11-1.jpgMOUNTAINSIDE PRAYER
After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray.
MATTHEW 14:23
Do you ever feel like your day is just too hectic to squeeze in time alone with God? We all have days like that, don’t we? It turns out that even Jesus occasionally had to work at it to find time alone with His Father. For instance, Matthew 14 opens with the account of why John the Baptist was beheaded. Then Jesus fed the five thousand, and later He walked on water. Those are big events, and it’s easy to miss what Jesus did in between. He went looking for solitude in order to pray—twice. The first time is in verse 13, when He had just heard about John’s death. However, the crowds heard that He had taken a boat to a solitary place, and they followed Him on foot.
Though most of us don’t have crowds following us around, we do run into obstacles to our time alone with God. Texts, e-mails, and phone calls can reach us anywhere. Kids who usually can’t be pried away from a screen suddenly need us right now. Our own minds light up like pinball machines, pinging from one concern to the next. How we need the quiet!
So how did Jesus respond when He saw the crowd waiting for Him on shore? He had compassion on them and healed their sick
(v. 14), and then He fed them all. He might have been tired and disappointed; He may have been aching with grief for John the Baptist. But He was tenderhearted toward the people who needed Him.
Then He tried again. He sent the disciples ahead on the boat, and He dismissed the crowd. Then, finally, He had time by Himself on the mountainside to pray.
If Jesus, who is one with the Father (John 10:30), sought time alone with the Father, how much more do we need it! We may have to try and try again. That’s okay. God is still there, waiting to welcome us.
Dear Lord, thank You for all that we learn about You from Scripture. Please help me to respond with compassion when I am needed at inconvenient times. Help me to keep trying so that I find my time with You.
images/img-13-1.jpgimages/img-14-1.jpgCAMPING
Let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds, not giving up meeting together . . . but encouraging one another.
HEBREWS 10:24–25
Part of the fun of camping or backpacking is sharing the adventure with our companions: the misery of the grueling hike to the campsite, the mosquitoes that will not quit, the mysterious noise in the middle of the night that turns out to be just porcupines, not bears. All those not-too-fun moments become stories to laugh about later. Of course some moments truly are enjoyable—a breathtaking view, butterflies weaving through wildflowers, a swim in a shockingly cold lake, fresh-caught fish, s’mores around the campfire. And there are shared projects: working together to put up the tent, to cook meals outdoors, to secure the food out of reach of those nosy bears, to break camp and clean up. For anyone who enjoys the outdoors, it can be a great bonding experience.
Sometimes the church draws together in a similar way. There are important jobs we’ve been given to do: to be Christ’s witnesses and to care for widows and orphans, for instance. We often have fun together, whether it’s at a barbecue, a day at a water park, a ski retreat, or just a gathering of friends over coffee. Then of course there are necessary, practical tasks, such as helping with church cleanup days and giving money to pay staff and keep the lights on. Being the church means collaborating with other believers. Maybe it can also be an adventure that brings us together.
Father, thank You for all Your good gifts, including the beautiful outdoors, our fellow believers, and the work You have for us to do. Help us to work together with joyful hearts, knowing that this pleases You.
FLAX FLOWERS
See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? . . . Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
MATTHEW 6:28–30, 34
Wildflowers are a gift, blooming without coaxing or cultivation. And what could be more extravagant than a flower that blooms for only one day? Although a flax plant may produce flowers all summer long, each bloom lasts for just one day. Early in the morning, the teardrop-shaped bud unfurls into a cylinder, and from there into a sort of pinwheel, its five petals tucked one beneath the next with geometric precision, forming a pale blue cup. As the morning sun reaches it, the petals open fully. Sometimes the flower turns toward the sun, petals spread nearly flat into a disc. By evening it droops, looking soft and fragile. The next morning, other buds are still suspended like beads from the curving gray-green stem, but the petals of yesterday’s bloom lie wrinkled and scattered at the base of the plant. Later there will be seed pods like little globe-shaped hanging lanterns, each containing five dark, smooth seeds. But the beauty of the flower is given to just one day.
Sometimes one day is all we are given too. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus says, "Give us today our daily bread" (Matthew 6:11). When God sent manna in the desert for the Israelites, it lasted for only one day, except for what fell the day before the Sabbath. If the people wanted to eat, they had to gather it six days a week. Of course there are seasons for planning, but in some key areas of life, daily is the necessary rhythm. Eating. Sleeping. Praying.
Whatever we do, whether we are receiving a gift from God or following as He leads, today is the time.
Thank You, Lord, for today. I turn my face to You to receive love, life, and guidance, and to pour back praise and obedience. How do You want my life to bloom today?
images/img-17-1.jpgTAMARACKS
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot.
ECCLESIASTES 3:1–2
Autumn in the western mountains can look a bit drab compared to the flaming colors of New England or the carefully chosen trees in our own neighborhoods. Most of the wildflowers are gone, and grasses have turned brown. In some areas, vine maple provides one of the few flashes of brilliant orange. Aspen leaves do turn a lovely gold color, and their soft rustling becomes a clattering, as though the trees themselves shiver.
The coniferous trees stand tall and dark on the ridges and hillsides—with one exception. The needles of the western larch, often called the tamarack, turn a lovely pale flame orange. Scattered among the evergreen species, they dapple the landscape with fall.
Tourists often ask, What is killing all those trees?
But this is not the deep rust