When the world is too much with me...

The world has been too much with me of late. I am needing to turn my back on it; to go to the wilderness, as Jesus did, to be renewed. We don't really have a 'wilderness' to go to, but we do go to the mountains. We have a small rustic cabin there. We have been renewing there for almost 30 years, and it truly does help. I believe that is one example that Christ intended for us to take literally, as well as spiritually. There are times when you just need to get away from people, from computers, from telephones; from demands on your time, on your minds, and on your energy; from television and newspaper headlines; and from traffic and daily calendars, even if for just a short time.

When I need this retreat and withdrawal, I think of Patti Griffin's amazing song, written with inspiration from a Martin Luther King speech (and both speech and song with inspiration from God, I am convinced.) The song is called "Up to the Mountain" and here are the lyrics:

I went up to the mountain
Because you asked me to
Up over the clouds
To where the sky was blue
I could see all around me
Everywhere
I could see all around me
Everywhere

Sometimes I feel like
I've never been nothing but tired
And I'll be working
Till the day I expire
Sometimes I lay down
No more can I do
But then I go on again
Because you ask me to

Some days I look down
Afraid I will fall
And though the sun shines
I see nothing at all
Then I hear your sweet voice, oh
Oh, come and then go, come and then go
Telling me softly
You love me so

The peaceful valley
Just over the mountain
The peaceful valley
Few come to know
I may never get there
Ever in this lifetime
But sooner or later
It's there I will go
Sooner or later
It's there I will go


So we will go up to the mountain for a few days this weekend. And I am convinced that we will come home rested and renewed, ready to face life again in our not-always-peaceful valley.


Here is where you can listen to a bit of the song, or on iTunes.