The High Places

I was so frustrated with life at that particular moment that I knew I had to get out of my house for some space and air. As I walked through the door I sighed knowing that I wasn't going to get much of an escape. Last year I had lived on a farm and it was full of places to withdraw to. Now...I was living in town. My house was surrounded by a wall fence, I could hear the local pub blaring music and knew I there were houses on all sides of my house.

My pace and heart quickened as the stress rose. I looked at my wall fence and I got the strongest desire to climb it and sit on the top.

As my chest felt that desire as a physical ache, it hit me. I love the high places. I need them. As a young child, I would climb trees when I was frustrated. When angry, upset or sad, I would get as high as I could in a tree, a roof, a fence, a wall, sit down and just think. As an adult, I've felt refuge in mountain climbing, sitting on large rocks, walking the tops of dams or sitting on high walls.

At my house on the farm, it was a high wall, in the Karoo it was a nearby mountain, in Malawi, a huge rock. Cape Town, a window sill on the 3rd floor. Traveling through Europe I would sit on walls, hills, boulders anything higher than normal and sit and think. Breathe.

I'm not sure what it is about being high up that is so calming for me. But it does something to my heart. I don't get the same relief if I stand on the ground rather than standing on a high rock. At my old house I would perch on the top of my wall, feet dangling. It just wasn't the same as if I sat on a chair in my backyard.

Do I feel closer to God? Is my view filled with so much more of the sky that all my problems seem small in comparison? Does my body need the little bit of adrenaline associated with being on the edge or up high to jolt me back to reality?

Back in the present, I sized up my empty back yard, looking for somewhere to sit, and my eyes fell upon my landcruiser. That would have to do. I climbed up onto the spare wheel then scrambled onto the roof. I sat and looked up at the stars as they appeared and the sunlight disappeared. And I felt peaceful. I relaxed. I felt safe high up. I was comfortable. I felt like I could look at the issues from a different perspective. Maybe the high places allow me to step out of my situation for a moment and just breathe.

Is that crazy? Maybe. But I am grateful for these places. My work is stressful, life is a challenge on the best of days. But God in his grace has provided me with the high places. And God is right there with me in the high places.

The Sovereign Lord is my strength!

He makes me as surefooted as a deer,

able to tread upon the heights.

Habakkuk 3:19

What's your 'high place'? Where do you find rest and comfort?

(One of my favourite climbing trees growing up.)