FROM A HIGH PLACE
I stood on the high plateau, the air was fresh and clean, and I breathed deeply admiring the truly marvelous view from this lofty place. The climb up to this spot had been one of the hardest things I had ever done. It had taken me a very long time, and an awful lot of pain, but now I had arrived. I felt quite proud of my achievement, and felt quite justified in that feeling. Below was the smog, the filth and slime from which I had escaped and the stench which had all but suffocated me. Was it hours, days or years ago when I had begun my climb? I couldn’t tell, but now I was high above it all in this wonderful clear air, on this smooth plateau, which seemed to stretch as far as the eye could see.
Glancing down I saw someone struggling up the slope. The slime from the valley below was still covering his feet and hands making it difficult for him to keep his grip and his feet kept slipping. As I watched his struggles a number of thoughts went through my mind. First I felt a slight irritation that someone else was climbing up to my plateau. I felt a degree of possessiveness for this spot, now someone else was aiming to share it with me. Then, I am ashamed to admit, I felt rather contemptuous of his efforts, comparing them, (in my mind), to my own much superior climbing abilities
I turned away and tried to recapture the pleasure and delight I had felt so strongly only moments ago. Somehow the intensity of those feelings seemed less pleasurable now. My thoughts turned to God. Surely now I had reached such heights I must be so much closer to God, we could now talk face to face. I looked around as if expecting him to be right behind me. What I saw was so overwhelming, so amazing that I fell to my knees in wonder, awe and shame.
I now saw clearly what this ‘plateau’ really was, and understood how I came to be here. I remembered how in my struggle to climb I had been aware of Gods presence helping me, encouraging me. I hadn’t really been a particularly good climber at all. What I saw now caused me to tremble. Because I understood at last that The Great Almighty God, my awesome Heavenly Father had seen me as I wallowed in the filth and slime of the stinking valley below, and he had loved me. He, who is far greater than the heavens and the earth, had in His indescribable mercy and grace, reached down to me from his throne above and plucked me off the rubbish dump of life. The plateau I now stood upon, the place I had struggled up to with His help and guidance was in actual fact the palm of his hand.
Now with a clearer sense of my own unworthiness and The Lords awesome greatness and majesty, I turned again to look at my brother still struggling up, and reached out to help him.
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