Thoughts from the Mountain: Humility

for one who consistently chooses to go lower still.

 

Be completely humble and gentle; be patient, bearing with one another in love.

Ephesians 4:2

As our small hiking group approached a fork in the rocky mountain path, two of us were distracted, quibbling about mean matters of life. The quiet voice of our leader interrupted the chatter.

Surveying ahead, I think we need to go lower.

It was then that we noticed the danger of the path we were on and the safer passage available to us. One trail led high and narrow, crumbling with fallen rock, as it clung to the face of a slippery cliff. The other path led low and steady, wide and stable. One of us who was stubborn took the higher, more treacherous path. The leader took the lower. He then placed himself on the other side, ready to assist the one clinging to her chosen, perilous path. 

Thank God for humble leaders, willing to go lower.

Crossing the trail was a clear, sparkling stream, fresh from the rock. Its waters danced their way to the lowest place, laughing as they went. I am sure I heard them singing,

Come, oh come! let us away–

Lower, lower every day, 

Oh, what joy it is to race

Down to find the lowest place. 

This the dearest law we know–

“It is happy to go low.”

Sweetest urge and sweetest will,

“Let us go down lower still.”

Hear the summons night and day

Calling us to come away.

From the heights we leap and flow

To the valleys down below.

Always answering to the call,

To the lowest place of all.

Sweetest urge and sweetest pain,

To go low and rise again.

 

—The Water Song, from Hind’s Feet on High Places, by Hannah Hurnard (1979). American edition copyright held by Tyndale House Publishers, 1987.

God calls us to lead with #humility. Gentle and humble is how He leads. Share on X

Lower, lower every day… this is the dearest law we know. 

Hear the summons night and day, calling us to come away.

Do you hear the summons? Let us pause our mean chatter a moment and listen for the invitation to go lower today.

Lord, forgive me for insisting on my way. May I be like the mountain stream cascading down the rock, lower, lower still, singing as I go. Amen.

 

@audreycfrank

Photo by Joel Durkee on Unsplash