On a recent trip to the Canadian Rockies, I didn’t take a prayer book…didn’t need one! In Celtic spirituality they talk of “thin places”–places where the spiritual world is closest or most accessible to our everyday one. Mountains are “thin places” for me; if Meister Eckhart is right when he says that “every creature is a word of God, or a book about God” then I can’t even imagine how many volumes (how many whole libraries!) a mountain would represent.
I was doing a guided meditation once, when my director placed me on a mountaintop overlooking a lovely valley and a big city. I was directed to go down into the city and look for God. Mentally walking around the city, I began feeling guilty because I “knew” I was supposed to find God in the people I met, but that time at least, it was not happening the way I thought it was supposed to. I knew I was not going to “pass” this test!
Then I looked back over my shoulder, at the mountain, and realized that for me God had been there all along. God is wherever we are–but especially on a mountain!