July has been a big month for me.
First there was The Birthday, the one everyone dreads, but because numbers don’t click with my word-wired brain, I didn’t see what all the fuss was about. I did, however, appreciate Lodge Lady K’s comment that the number 40 holds special biblical significance, so she was excited to see what the year ahead might hold for me. I like that sort of anticipation; it makes me more watchful for God’s fingerprints on my days (which is how it should be every year—and every day—anyhow).
Then there’s Boulder. We’re on an extended stay at the mountains so Mike can train with his coach, Brad Hudson, and all the amazing Hudson Training Systems runners. A pleasant surprise is Boulder’s foodie culture and active lifestyle, giving me plenty to do each day between a few hours of work and while Mike is out running.
Like the number 40, mountains hold special biblical significance too. God called many saints of old to meet with Him on mountaintops. Mountain treks aren’t easy (as I’m finding)—there are steep stretches and rocky paths and thin air. Mountaintop experiences have to be fought for, but are well worth the effort.
Andrew Murray is speaking to me about seeking God as I read his book The Inner Chamber and the Inner Life. Whether here in the mountains or back in the flat lands, I have the privilege of meeting with God for a mountaintop meeting. I want to meet with God and carry His presence with me down the slope and into very rise and fall of daily life. Here’s how Murray put it:
To those who . . . feel that if they are to be true and mighty to influence the Church and the world around them they must be full of God and his presence, everything will be subordinate to the one question: how to bear in the earthen vessel the heavenly treasure, the power of Christ resting on us all the day.
I do hope that when I come down off this mountaintop, God and His presence will make this earthen vessel a carrier of something holy and lasting.
