Please note. This post is next in the series. The Importance of Altars was accidentally put up today and is after this and another post up on Wednesday. Apologies for the error.

If you are located in a valley with lush green open space where you can enjoy the mountains from afar, why go up into the mountains and the challenge that creates? They are lovely to look at even when you can’t see all of them due to clouds, fog, or heavy mist. But it can almost feel like an unspoken invitation that the mountains give to come closer and get to know them better. And in Hinds Feet on High Places, we know that Much Afraid has been invited by the Chief Shepherd to go there and surely, He knows the way better than anyone.

Much Afraid looked at the mountains every day and longed to go there to escape the fear that haunted her in the valley and the people around her that added to her fear. For her whole life she had never been able to ignore the things these people said to her or the fears that came upon her. Despite having a crooked mouth, lame feet, and a timidity that brought her to a place of being immobile, she could not consider what impediments might be there if the Chief Shepherd made the invitation and promised good companions to be with her all along the way.

Mountain trails and hikes always guarantee an adventure. You can study all the trails on a map and get guidance from those who have traveled there before but the day you start the trek will not be the same as it was for anyone else. That is what our journey with the Lord is like as well. He invites each of us to know Him and journey with Him, but he doesn’t give us a map of the whole route and even when we talk with others who have journeyed with Him for a longer time, we discover that our journey will be unique to us.

How well I recall when we were hiking on a trail in Alberta, Canada, with no one else around and suddenly coming upon a muddy patch in the path that showed the clear imprint of a bear’s paw! We kept moving and tried to make plenty of noise since we had no idea where or when the bear had crossed that path.

That was one day that I didn’t meander slowly searching for the wildflowers that I sought to discover whenever we were in the mountains.

As I mentioned in a previous post, wildflowers in the mountains can teach us things for our own journey. Look at what the Chief Shepherd told Much Afraid about wildflowers: “Nothing my Father and I made is ever wasted, and the little wildflowers have a wonderful lesson to teach. They offer themselves so sweetly and confidently and willingly, even if it seems that there is no one to appreciate them. Just as though they sang a joyous little song to themselves, that it is happy to love, even though one is not loved in return”

What a challenge there is in that statement. They offer themselves even if no one is there to appreciate them. Think how often people may trek along that trail and never notice the wildflowers scattered near their feet in banks of old leaves or tucked in between rocky crevices.

But the Chief Shepherd doesn’t stop there as he shares with Much Afraid. His next words speak directly to her but also to us: “All the fairest beauties in the human soul, its greatest victories, and its most splendid achievements are always those which no one else knows anything about, or can only dimly guess at.”

We live in an age and time when being noticed and applauded is more often sought after than ever before. Yet this understanding the Chief Shepherd offers us is key to growing in him and developing humility.

One of the hardest parts of the journey at the outset for Much Afraid was when the Chief Shepherd introduced the two companions he had chosen to guide and be with her on the journey to the High Places. When she met them, she noticed they were tall and appeared very strong, but they were veiled, silent, and offered her no greeting. Certainly, these were not the ones he had chosen for her.

How much like us that can be. We are in a hard place, and we are sure we could feel comfort and encouragement if only this person or that person would call us, send a card, visit us, and offer to pray with us. But in the real world, in the midst of tragedy and crisis we are often surprised at those who come because they are not always those we expect and yet they are God’s means of grace to us.

So why go to the High Places? What can these mysterious guides and companions teach Much Afraid? What can be learned along the way and what have we learned from the companions for our journey that we did not expect?

We need to climb to the High Places because that is how we develop hinds’ feet to be able to go to the highest peaks and leap forward with the Chief Shepherd after as he heals our lame feet along the way and transforms us through the journey.

And it is then we learn what the Chief Shepherd told Much Afraid about the High Places:

“The High Places are the starting places for the journey down to the lowest place in the world. When you have hinds’ feet and can go ‘leaping on the mountains and skipping on the hills,’ you will be able, as I am, to run down from the heights in gladdest self-giving and then go up to the mountains again. You will be able to mount to the High Places swifter than eagles, for it is only up on the High Places of Love that anyone can receive power to pour themselves down in utter abandonment of self-giving.”

After these tender but powerful words, the Chief Shepherd tells Much Afraid the names of the companions he has chosen especially for her on the trip to the High Places. As she watched the mysterious figures with trembling, she became truly frightened when she learned their names were Sorrow and Suffering.

Much Afraid wondered as we often do why the Chief Shepherd who spoke of his love for her and a promise to take her to the High Places and give her a new name would now give her such companions as these. Why not Joy and Peace? But the way of the Chief Shepherd is not hers and the way the Lord often takes us is not what we would choose or what makes any sense to us.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

    neither are your ways my ways,”

declares the Lord.

 “As the heavens are higher than the earth,

    so are my ways higher than your ways

    and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)

Most of us associate altars with the place at the front of the room in our church where we often see candlesticks and a Bible and sometimes a vase of flowers. There is usually a cloth covering it and everything looks lovely and clean. It is where many of us came to pledge our vows in marriage or dedicated our children to God. We know or sense it is a sacred place that should result in our respect. And from time to time we may pause and recall how often the Israelites built altars, how often Abraham and other heroes did.

Some of us who have seen the Narnia series of movies recall the scene of the stone table altar in The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe where Aslan was bound and slain. This scene perhaps gives us a truer reminder of the altar’s place and purpose. It was not nearly so pretty or pristine. The scene is one of anguish that can pierce our hearts.

As we continue to follow Much Afraid in Hinds Feet on High Places, we see altars again. When Much Afraid discovered that the Chief Shepherd would not accompany her in person each step of the journey to the High Places, but rather that Sorrow and Suffering would be the companions chosen she feared he would not fulfill his promises to her. As their trek progressed and took paths which seemed to lead away from the High Places, Much Afraid was more uncertain. Her interaction with the Chief Shepherd brought a question to her from him asking if she trusted him enough to follow him wherever he would lead her.

It would be then that Much Afraid grappled with her fear and pledged to follow the Chief Shepherd wherever he led (even when it appeared to be going in the opposite direction of the High Places). And as she did so, she gathered together a little pile of rocks and made a small altar. What she placed on the altar was “her trembling, rebelling will.” How great a sacrifice that would be for her.

“A little spurt of flame came from somewhere, and in an instant nothing but a heap of ashes was lying on the altar. That is to say, she thought at first there was only ashes, but the Shepherd told her to look closer, and there among the ashes she saw a little stone of some kind, a dark-colored, common-looking pebble.”

Hannah Hurnard

And in the story the Shepherd would tell Much Afraid to pick up the pebble and take it with her “as a memorial of the altar which you built, and all that it stands for.”

The poignant scene is one that nudges us to linger and consider the meaning of altars and look at what we may have seen about them in the Old Testament stories. Consider the altar Abraham was asked to sacrifice Isaac upon and how it gives us testimony of God’s purposes for them even though we may not pause often to consider their meaning or importance.

What would it mean for you, for me, to build an altar upon which to lay our “rebelling will?“

To consider the meaning of altars Jack Hayford wrote:

“Altars are a memorial of the places where God meets us.

Altars represent the occasion and place where we have had a personal encounter with God. We may not always be able to make a physical altar, but there can be one established in our hearts. When we celebrate communion, we are celebrating the grandest altar of all, the Cross of Calvary. The Son of God was the ultimate sacrifice, and His work on the Cross reconciled all humankind to God, made possible for our lives to be infused with meaning, for our sins to be forgiven and to give us the promise of eternal life.”

Jack Hayford

Hayford goes on to make note of some of the different forms of altars we discover as we read in the Bible. These include: “a place of encounter, a place of forgiveness, a place of worship, a place of covenant, a place of intercession, and a place of ‘altering’ us.” That was certainly evident in the example of the first altar Much Afraid was asked to build.

But it would not be the only time Much Afraid would need to stop on the way to the High Places and build an altar and offer something on it. Despite her promise to follow the Chief Shepherd wherever he would lead, progressing up the slopes would challenge her lame feet, willing heart, and fearful spirit many times over.

“Oh, no! no! No!” Much Afraid almost shrieked. “That path is utterly impossible. The deer may be able to manage it, but no human being could. I could never get up there. I would fall headlong and be broken in pieces on those awful rocks.”

Hannah Hurnard

How much are we like Much Afraid when the path before us appears foreboding and treacherous? How often do we commit to follow Christ and then shrink back again when the endurance we need weakens and the courage we must gain seems beyond our reach to attain?

So much was sacrificed for us when we deserved nothing.

“There is a place of ‘altaring’ and a price of altering. Altars have a price–God intends that something be ‘altered’ in us when we come to altars. To receive the promise means we make way for the transformation.”

Jack Hayford

What do we, you, and I, need to lay on the altar we are asked to build?

Are we willing to pay the price for the “altaring” to bring transformation, so our life and love look more like God’s?

“At the altar, the price is paid for renewal when we’ve been at a distance, for securing hope we may have thought was lost and for receiving promise, even if it’s in an unpleasant environment.”

Jack Hayford

We all seem to have a preference for the type of creation that we find most inspirational or refreshing. Some of us are solely beach folks who love sitting in the sand as the surf rolls in and the sun warms us. Whether it is a sunset or a sunrise, we never tire of the ocean scene and sounds. Others of us get our “high” from the mountains. We love to trek on the trails and sense the greatness of God as we survey the vistas from a higher plane than where most of us live. Discovering wildflowers along the path and feeling the freshness in the air exhilarates us and no matter what the season we love going there. A few of us love both of these.

For me, I have been drawn to the mountains the most. Perhaps it is my discomfort with higher temps and humidity that nudges me upward toward the mountains even though I have enjoyed some beaches. Both are quite different from the rolling landscape of the Midwest. Time and again our treks away from home have led us to mountain paths and the sound of gurgling streams.

We’ve been blessed to enjoy the Smoky Mountains, Blue Ridge Mountains, Rocky Mountains of the United States and Canada, as well as the mountains of New England. Each area has its own special vibe and attraction. The trails are fun to explore, and I am invariably looking for new wildflowers to discover. Each area will also impact the skill set you need and the conditioning necessary for the elevation you will be traversing.

My photo files are filled with little flowers I noticed along the path to higher mountains ahead. The variety of colors and the way they appear to survive such harsh conditions always speak to me of God’s provision. They also remind me that even if they appear to be isolated and in a desolate place, God has provided for them and placed them exactly where they are. Each time I see such a wildflower I tuck that reminder into my heart for times when I am not in the mountains and yet might feel I am in harsh conditions and somehow isolated. No matter where I am, He is there for me just as He is for the flowers I discover in the mountains.

There is no question that the mountains can appear more than a little intimidating and it is a challenge to pick a trail and head off into the unknown. Even if the known is not sublime, it is familiar.

That was the very dilemma that Much Afraid faced as she lived in the Valley of Humiliation surrounded by lovely mountains. She had longed to be able to climb to the High Places, but she was lame and unsuited for mountain trails. She was haunted by fears within and family and those around her who reinforced those fears and paralyzed her from moving. Yet she was a part of those in the valley who observed the Chief Shepherd as he pastured his flocks there in the care of his fellow workers.

One day Much Afraid has an encounter with the Shepherd and she tells him she has hoped to escape her valley dwelling and all the fearsome people surrounding her and go to the High Places. He tells her something that creates an even greater longing to be transported there: “The lower slopes of those mountains on the other side of the river are the borderland of my Father’s Kingdom, the Realm of Love. No Fears of any kind are able to live there because ‘perfect love casteth out fear and everything that torments.'”

The invitation from the Shepherd delights her and yet her own doubt and fear quickly rise to the surface of her thoughts. How could she ever manage to go with him where he offered to lead her? She was lame and had no skill. Her fears overwhelmed her more often than she wished but as she looked into the eyes of the Shepherd, she saw such tenderness there that she was drawn to the love they conveyed. Surely if he was with her, no harm could come her way and she could manage the trip with his help. With trembling in her voice, she accepted the invitation to go with him. Within moments of that acceptance, she hesitates again when he tells her that he will take her to the foot of the mountains so none of her enemies can upend her, but then he has chosen two companions who will travel with her and be her guide up the mountains to the High Places.

Much Afraid had not expected that he would not travel the whole path ahead as her guide and protector. How could he ask that of her?

The Shepherd responded that no matter where she was on the journey or how treacherous the terrain or her lameness, she could call him at any time, and he would hear her and come to help.

How easy for us it is to forget that whatever journey, we are on, just like Much Afraid, we can call on the Chief Shepherd and he will be there to help us. He doesn’t remove the challenges of the climb or the journey but he promises to go with us. Some of us are not unlike Much Afraid and have not been able to ignore the fear that would seek to overtake us in its relentless pursuit of us. But there is purpose for the mountainous terrain and our unskilled ability to face the climb and the companions he chooses for us will be chosen with care even as those Much Afraid will have. But we, like Much Afraid, may not be excited with the companions when we first meet them. Like her, we may not “realize that the Prince of Love is ‘of very tender compassions to them that are afraid.'”

Some of us love a good detective story full of twists, turns, and yet-to-be-solved crimes and mysteries. Little wonder that over the decades that novels, movies, and TV shows featuring these things have been popular. Movies like Murder on the Orient Express, Sherlock Holmes, L.A. Confidential, and Dirty Harry come to mind as examples many of us know. The list of TV shows offers a considerable variety from the benign Andy Griffith to Dragnet, Miami Vice, Columbo, Criminal Minds, Law and Order, NCIS, and Hill Street Blues to name a few.

There are also various series available through various streaming services that give us samples of such stories from other countries that capture our attention such as the popular series Foyle’s War. We become fascinated by the mind of the detective tracking the perpetrator and learn different techniques used to accomplish the task.

But what if we are the ones being tracked and pursued by something or someone who seeks to do us harm?

What emotions do we struggle with as we seek a path of escape from being captured? We haven’t committed a crime so why are we being pursued we wonder.

The sleuth who relentlessly tracks us is as tenacious as the best bloodhound. Just about the time we think we have shaken off the hunt, we round a corner in a different scene and time and there it is again.

Many offer us advice on how to get free or avoid this menace but that proves to be easier said than done even though we may sometimes make good an escape from the hunt.

We’ve been marked as enemies because of whose we are and the sleuth that tracks us hopes to cripple us even if we are not destroyed by the ploys and tricks used against us.

Who or what is it that we are fleeing to avoid?

Fear.

Some might proclaim that nothing frightens them while others live with constant anxiety that cripples them and leaves them alone in isolation. Others will have certain events or things where this menace appears, but none of us will fully escape it. The enemy of our souls uses fear in all its forms with skill honed from the beginning of time and he and his imps want us to believe there is no one to rescue us. And in recent years he has been ramping up his efforts using crime, war, disease, culture wars, and a pandemic all at once.

If we have a spiritual base, we have used all the tools in our toolbox to seek to combat these things with varying degrees of success. The assaults recently have been so intense and constant that most of us have grown weary in battle and as I was considering that, I remembered Much Afraid and what I learned through her story published in 1977 in the book, Hinds Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard. It caused me to check my library to see if I still had a copy since the book has been out of print for some time.

Tucked back in a corner I found the book whose pages were yellowed with age. It was worn from more than one or two readings years ago and I sensed that it was time to read it again to learn ways we can better defeat the enemy that stalks us.

Some of you may remember the story but many of you have not. One of the main characters of the book is one called Much Afraid. The preface of the allegory gives us a sense of the author’s purpose for the story and her passion for Christ.

“How deeply we who love the Lord of Love and desire to follow him long for the power to surmount all difficulties and tests and conflicts in life in the same exultant and triumphant way. To learn the secret of victorious living has been the heart’s desire of those who love the Lord, in every generation.”

Hannah Hurnard

The author reveals insightful truths about Much Afraid’s journey to the High Places that Christ (the Shepherd) invites her to go. They bear revisiting for me and perhaps you as well.

“But the High Places of victory and union with Christ cannot be reached by any mental reckoning of self to be dead to sin, or by seeking to devise some way or discipline by which the will can be crucified. The only way is by learning to accept, day by day, the actual conditions and tests permitted by God, by a continually repeated laying down of our will and acceptance of his as it is presented to us in the form of the people with whom we have to live and work, and in the things that happen to us. Every acceptance of his will becomes an altar of sacrifice, and every such surrender and abandonment of ourselves to his will is a means of furthering us on the way to the High Places to which he desires to bring every child of his while they are still living on earth.”

Hannah Hurnard

I hope you will join me as I share in the posts ahead how we (like Much Afraid) can learn the path to the High Places and gain hinds’ feet to take us there.

“The High Places and the hinds’ feet do not refer to heavenly places after death, but are meant to be the glorious experience of God’s children here and now – if they will follow the path he chooses for them.”

Hannah Hurnard

Photo by nunun dy from Pexels

Day by day we may fail to notice the pages of our lives continue to turn. Little wonder that it is not unusual to be surprised as birthdays seem to come faster as the years and decades pass by. Perhaps that is also because there is much about aging that we do not acknowledge or recognize even though it is being studied more than it was once. Our life expectancy has increased significantly in the last 50 years. That is truer if we are blessed to be able to access healthy dietary needs and maintain some level of exercise. Yet there is still much for each of us to learn and add to the whole of what is discovered.

If you talk to many seniors, most will tell you the years seem to roll by faster each decade. From the mid-70’s onward my life and yours (whatever your age) was punctuated by the fear and uncertainty of the pandemic. Most of us live with the aftereffects of that time whether we were ill with the virus or not. Our lives were altered in many ways. Getting back to “normal” was not as quick or easy as we expected and we were aging in the midst of it as well and trying to gain healthcare for non-related virus things that kept cropping up.

I watched as the 80 sign ahead got closer and closer. And then before I could have guessed, it was here. Most of our family were able to come help celebrate the occasion and just left us  hours ago to go back to their jobs, schools, and life in other places. The warmth of memories of the past gained some pages over the weekend as new updates on our stories were shared in the cozy atmosphere of our living room after dinner, playing games, or sharing in snacks. We heard about the latest news and resurrected talents of music and poetry together as well.  Then, all too soon each of us was pulled back into the lives we are living apart from one other while the pages keep turning. 

Photo by Pixabay from Pexels

My daughter and two granddaughters got to meet a few of my close friends over a lovely tea that added to their understanding of my life and gave faces to the people they hear me mention. It also added texture to the stories about them I share with my friends. What a blessing.

It was a time to reflect on what defines us and be reminded of powerful truths as we shared with one another.

“Our dreams reveal to us the basic truth of life: years are biological; the spirit is eternal. The number of our years do not define us. There is in the human being a life force that never dies. It is the life force that proves to us that age does not fossilize us. Deep down where our souls live, we stay forever young.” 

Joan Chittister

Within the short time our family was together, I was asked many questions about what stands out to me, who influenced me most, who my mentors through life were, and more. The questions came in times when we were all present as well as times when I was one-on-one with family members from 18 to 57. It was hard to condense what came to mind with each question as I paused to recognize that big number of 80 and my responsibility to share whatever insights I had gained to this point with those coming after me.

Photo by suzy underwood from Pexels

In response to a grandchild’s question, I shared that those who were mentors or influenced me most did so by how they lived life and their character more than any knowledge they shared. That was what translated their lived experience into the values they formed and I knew to be true by how they lived. From them I learned the importance by being slow to judge and quick to remember that I was only seeing a fraction of the person in a moment where the temptation to judge was nudging me to do so.

In response to another question about sharing a memory of my life they did not already know I told a story from second grade in a one-room schoolhouse and I chose to go with a friend to the dinner after a funeral next door and spend time with her and her family. No cell phones gave me access to let my mother know why I was not getting off the bus and how much trouble I was in for worrying my mother. The idea I was enjoying the dinner with family after a funeral brought more than a few chuckles around the table.

Over a coffee date with another grandchild in college who wonders if a gifting and passion of hers will ever be part of her life since it is not a part of her major and the trajectory of her current path. I reminded her that if we have been given a gift we need not fear when God opens the door for it to bloom and grow. It may happen many years later and I reminded her I did not begin writing on this site until my 70’s and published my book at 75 even though I had dreamed of being a writer since childhood. I encouraged her to be patient as her path would add to the richness of how those giftings might develop and be used later.  

Photo by Pam Ecrement

I reminded another that it was important to remember that our words matter and have power. We never know when our last interaction with someone might be no matter our age or theirs. If you never see them again, how will those words impact them if they are spoken carelessly or without wisdom? How do you want them to remember you? Do you want to live with regret because you failed to show them you valued them or to say how you loved them?

My words were snippets of what I am still discovering and not the whole of who I am, how I became her, and am still becoming.

“We do not have the right to give up growing just because age is assumed to have eclipsed the possibility. But that means that we must be willing to rethink all the ideas that have kept us bound until this moment.” 

Joan Chittister

For now, I will continue to discover each page as it turns and while writing other things and series here, I will periodically share the discoveries I want to add. What I hope is that it will encourage you to keep on discovering more about your own pages as well.

Photo by Pam Ecrement