Have you ever gone on a retreat or mission trip or had some kind of experience that when you look back you call it a mountain top? I certainly have.

The church my family originally attended had a youth retreat at a place called Mountain Top. The name itself set the youth up to expect such an experience.

These can be defining moments in our faith, those places we can see sticking out when we look back at the topography of our spiritual journeys. Baptism, a first mission trip, camp, a conversation...they all stand proud and tall as markers, reminding us that we have indeed, encountered our Creator.

What’s interesting about all this to me is we can be lured into chasing these experiences and devaluing the times in the valley. Have you noticed that the farther up a mountain you go, the less nutrients there are? Not to mention, it gets difficult to breathe?

We were not meant to live on the mountain top.

We were only meant to visit.

Even more mind-blowing is the fact that God actually has to descend to meet us on the mountain. While we work hard and chase the ascent, He comes from a higher place to meet us. 

Our mountains are actually His valley.

Did you catch that? God has to lower Himself to meet us on the mountain. 

There are countless biblical examples where God meets someone on a mountain, but the one that originally got me thinking about this was in Exodus:

The Lord descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. Exodus 19:30

So why do we settle for chasing the mountain tops? He is always higher and can always bring us to a higher place! 

Where have you settled that you were never meant to live? When was the last time you reflected on your mountain tops?