The Hills Are Alive

Welcome to Word for the Week, the series in which I:

share my experience of hearing God’s Word in Mass last weekend,
explore what I believe the Lord is calling me to do about that Word, and
ask how this Word might impact your life, as well.

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Well, the end of the Advent Season is still here.

I haven’t written every week, not any of the weeks of Advent! Well, that’s not totally true. I have written, but I have not published anything. But the good news is that my health is consistently strong, and that I feel both grounded in the present and hopeful for the future.

This Advent has been all about mountains for me. So I’ll reflect on how it started, and try to tie that in with how it’s ending. Hopefully, this can also be an invitation for you to reflect on any themes that are speaking to you in your own Advent journey.

The first Sunday of Advent started with a climb. My friend Paige and I went on a quick hike on Sunday afternoon, and then David and I took the kids to Mass in the evening. “Mountain” was the word that stood out to me from the readings:

There shall be no harm or ruin on all my holy mountain; or the earth shall be filled with knowledge of the LORD, as water covers the sea. -Isaiah 11:9

During the course of that first week, I accidentally wound up on another mountaintop!

Our family was invited to a tamale-making party. While David worked that Saturday, I drove our three daughters plus our friend Airam, to the host’s house. The GPS led south of the city, into the nearby mountains. As we climbed in altitude, the little girls were thrilled by the hills. It was drizzling, and Airam remarked, "It was raining the last time we came here, too"

I chuckled as I remembered the instance that Airam referenced. We had driven up to the mountain in the late winter of 2021, to commemorate a year anniversary since my last concert. (Remember quarantine? Yikes.) 

“Why aren’t we on the mountain anymore?” the question stirred me from my reminiscing.

“It’s harder to tell, but you can’t see the hills because we are on top of the mountain now!” I answered my daughters. A little while later, I added, “We’re almost there!”

Except, we weren’t.

Somehow, I had accidentally plugged in an entirely wrong address. Surrounded by mountaintop mansions, we were in the completely wrong spot. I apologized to Airam and the girls, called our host friend, and explained I actually needed to drive another 20 minutes in the opposite direction!

As we drove back into the valley, I shook my head and processed what just happened. “I have no idea how that address ended up in my GPS. But, my word for the week is ‘mountain!’

“You know how the girls couldn’t tell we were on the mountaintop? Well, maybe that’s similar to what is going on in my life right now. I’ve been feeling really restless and antsy on sabbatical. Kind of like how I was the last time we came up here! Back then, it felt like I would never give another concert again. But I was able to resume shortly afterward.

“And now, I feel something similar. Maybe, in the same way that the girls were surprised by everything on the mountaintop, I’m surprised by where I am now. And it’s actually way closer than I think to where I want to be!”

Airam’s a great listener and doesn’t mind letting silence speak. 

“But, we’ve gotta go back down the mountain now, I suppose,” I added after a while. 

With a grin, Airam summed up, “It was just a glimpse.”

So, we returned to the valley, learned how to make tamales, and carried about our Advent season. I still felt super antsy, but I also had that vision of the mountain in mind as a consolation.

And somehow, now, the day before Christmas Eve (when this was written), I feel totally well. I’m dreaming again. I’m getting back to the fitness routines that I love. I’m mystified as I am learning to thoroughly enjoy food.

In the end, I’m reminded of when Abraham went up a mountain with his son. Maybe God calls us to a willingness to surrender what we hold dear, to purify our hearts and to give us an even greater love. And like how the angel of the Lord pointed out a different sacrifice for Abraham to offer, God will allow us to make an even greater & better sacrifice than we imagined.

Is there anything that the Lord is asking you to give back to Him today? Like Abraham, let’s invite God’s holy angels* to accompany us and to point out where the Lord is speaking to us today. As we hear the Christmas proclamation, may the angels bring us glad tidings of great joy anew. Let’s pray?

Angel of God, my guardian dear, to whom God's love commits me here, ever this day, be at my side, to light and guard, to rule and guide.

Amen

P.S. It turns out the mountain address was for another church friend! I mixed up the addresses for two separate gatherings. So, indeed, I went back up the mountain on the third Sunday of Advent. Joy!

*Airam is the angelic figure in my little story, above.

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