Article May 31, 1919 Issue

Going Up Mountains

MABEL E. AYRES

The mountains were a subject of mystery to a little girl who lived in the plains of the United States,—so many of the interesting experiences told in the Bible took place upon the mountain top, and Jesus so often went, to a mountain alone to pray. She had a great desire to see them and go to the top of one herself, thinking perhaps God would come and talk to her there. When the little girl reached young womanhood Christian Science came into her life and she learned to read the Bible in a more practical, understandable way; but it was not until she had for a number of years been familiar with the sight of the mountains and had spent some time among them and gone back to the plains, that a truer realization of the metaphysical meaning of mountains came to her.

One summer she went up into the heart of the Rockies while working to destroy a discordant belief that had seemed real, fearful, and tenacious. The mountains brought a renewed sense of gratitude and thankfulness to the ever present Father-Mother God. As she looked out of her window at the great peaks early each morning these words from the one hundred and twenty-first psalm sang in her heart: "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth." It seemed as if in the mountains one naturally thought of God most of the time, and she felt like a little child, glad to hold His hand and let Him lead her. The problems that had seemed difficult and confusing were now far off in the past and had lost all seeming power to disturb. A great joy, together with mental and physical freedom, came to her.

Climbing up and down the mountain paths, she remembered a time when she had been burdened with a great sense of condemnation because she was having problems. Surely, she thought, if she had been a better Christian Scientist they would not have come. The practitioner to whom she voiced this thought asked her, "Have you ever climbed the mountains?" "Yes," came the surprised answer. "Were there not times," continued the practitioner, "when you had to go down some distance before you could start up on the other side? And did you not wind around big bowlders and other obstructions? But were you discouraged because of these obstacles? No! You knew the path would eventually lead you up to the mountain top."

Send a comment to the editors

We'd love to hear from you!

Easily submit your testimonies, articles, and poems online.

Submit

Going Up Mountains

We'd love to hear from you!

Sign up for unlimited access