To me, mountains are HUGE! They represent something gigantic that cannot be moved… a secure force perhaps.

At times, different analogies offer mountains as a metaphoric symbolism towards something we battle, something that is difficult for us to face….

something “David v  Goliath”-esque.

This time, though, with this verse, I am thinking of things that contrast the normal perspective…

Picture with me that thing in your life that offers stability…security…consistency…

Can you see it?

Is it your health? Your relationships (such as with a spouse, parent, child, or friend)? Could it be your career? Is it possibly the way in which you view your world?

Now, picture that mountain shaking…

For me, that mountain had looked like job security (longevity and loyalty matters, right? Nope. Not to big business.)

It looked like relationships can be healed and the sick get well…nope.

8 years ago this month my sister in law died of liver and kidney failure at the age of 41 while our relationship was in complete disarray.

At her death, my solid view of the world shattered as well:

Our choices have consequences and sometimes those consequences can cost us everything.

In some of your lives those mountains look like a marriage that should last long into your eighties and yet a disease is threatening that certainty….or it has already obliterated the dream of that reality and you are facing life as a widow or widower.

In some, it may be that your children will take care of you as you age…and they won’t even talk to you, let alone be available for any assistance that you can count on or trust. Or, they have gone against the natural order of life and have surpassed you in death.

A mountain can be a dream for your future that seemed to be in your grasp and you feel it slipping through your fingers- no matter how hard you try to hang onto it.

Those are definitely shaking mountains.

When Mt. Saint Helen exploded it blew off one whole side:

That looks to me like a hill being removed…

As a nurse, I think of examples of this as a significant change in mobility, creeping blindness due to macular degeneration, severe life alteration from diabetes,  a colostomy after a bowel obstruction, uncontrollable weight gain from thyroid disease or polycystic ovaries…

As a  mother it is the impact onto my existence due to others life choices. I have no control over what my children will become or who will impact them when I am not watching…all I can do is influence them to the best of my abilities and leave them in God’s hands.

As a wife,  I have no control over my husband’s choices…he travels for his job, frequently flying and driving in unknown areas. I cannot “make him” go see a doctor if he does not feel well…I cannot make him go to the dentist for routine maintenance…I cannot make him quit watching Sharknado with our kids-lol!

When I got married, I believed in true love…love conquers anything…our love will see us through…

ARE YOU KIDDING ME???!!

When we vow “in good times and in bad”,  we have NO IDEA how bad things can get- from things in our control and many things from outside of it!  We have no idea how we will respond as a couple or as individuals to a death in the family, an illness, or a job loss until that experience crosses our threshold.

It wasn’t LOVE that got us through, it was the commitment to our marriage and the vows we made to each other that got us through those dark days of screaming, crying, throwing things, embittered silence, extreme insecurity and jealousy, or veiled threats to leave ( I know I am not speaking only for myself here)!

Now, as we have come into the Light, it is purely the forgiving grace and unmerited mercy of God that we received as individuals that binds us together as a couple! It is the love of God for US that holds us together because, SERIOUSLY PEOPLE, MARRIAGE IS HARD WORK AND NOT A JOB TO BE TAKEN LIGHTLY OR TO BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED! THERE IS NO DAY OFF….THERE IS NO SLACKING…If you decide to “take a break”  or ease off the throttle a bit, there may not be a marriage to return to…. Talk about a hill being removed if you are not careful…

As a woman with big dreams, the removal of opportunities and advancement while watching the success of others has been difficult.

The shaking of our stability (the mountains) and the removal of the hills (our health, relationships, or future plans) is out of our control and is often painful.

I do not like it any more than anyone else!

The promise in the scripture says that the love of God will NOT be shaken or moved even as these other seemingly immovable things in our lives are…As the mountains are shaking and the hills are being removed (take away) God’s perfect, faithful love and all encompassing peace will stay constant.

In spite of the pain.

In spite of the suffering.

In spite of the uncertainty.

In spite of the sudden left turn that life has thrown at us.

Being in a relationship with the Lord is not living a life in the absence of those things that threaten our stability and security…it is finding security in the ONE STABILTY that is offered and unchanging in the MIDST OF OUR TRIALS AND WAVERING.

I’ll take it.