There is a time I vividly remember during my years of Art College, (which was around the early 1990’s) where my studies and other aspects in life became overwhelming. My perspectives were somewhat blown out of proportion, where the clutter of small incidents seemed like mountains.

Being unfamiliar with a few areas surrounding the college where I was studying, a decision was made to rectify that by climbing one of the nearby hills as far as I could during my lunch hour. A level was reached where trees gave way to a breathtaking panoramic view (the above picture is over Swansea Bay; although not the exact spot from where I stood, it gives an impression of what I saw) that had me transfixed. Besides the ability to scan the entirety of Swansea Bay from such a height, I was amazed to notice how everything looked so small – even to the location where my tutorials took place. Everything was seen in its right perspective; nothing looked overwhelmingly large from where I was standing as everything stood in proportion, each building in relation to another; everything could be seen for what it really was.

Indeed, it was not long before all feelings of anxiety and claustrophobia dissipated into the air I was breathing; I felt like a ‘giant’ among those ‘minuscule’ buildings! God, in His goodness, knew what I needed at that moment in time. From that height and sensing His presence with me, I was enabled to meet the demands that would be facing me once I walked back down that hill to my classes.

That ‘mountain-top’ view was not just a refreshing moment, but a vision to take back down into the ‘valley’ to recall in times of difficult experiences. We find that God will give us those heights of great encouragement and revelation, not to remain on top of the mountain, but to take it among all the common-place and mundane aspects of life; there the vision is to be worked out through our finger tips.

Often times we are overwhelmed with life’s challenges because we are prone to shifting our focus from off the Author and Perfector of our faith, where we are naturally inclined to taking matters into our own hands, until we learn to live in dependence upon God in every area of our lives. It is not necessarily the big things that are overtly bad in our eyes that mar our walk with God, but the small and subtle aspects that build up over time distorting our perspective of reality. The writer to the Hebrews in chapter 12:1-2 is a verse we are often over-familiar with, nevertheless we need to be constantly reminded of it: “…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the Founder and Perfector of our faith…”

It is our view of life that can weigh and drag us down, an out-look that is completely different to God’s that reminds me of two verses from Keith Green’s song, ‘Trials Turned to Gold’:

The view from here is nothing near
To what it is for You
I tried to see Your plan for me
But I only acted like I knew

Oh Lord, forgive the times
I tried to read Your mind
‘Cause You said if I’d be still
Then I would hear Your voice.

How often God has us learn over and over again that His thoughts and ways are not ours; they infinitely transcend ours. We do well in not leaning on our own understanding but ever seeking – every step of the way – His wisdom and His paths. “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You” – (Isaiah 26:3).