Mountain Top Experience?

It's been a great week in the mountains with some very good clergymen friends. We've had some wonderful meals together, spent time hiking to and from some magnificent waterfalls, and had time to share deep conversation.

I suppose the talk was the main part. This was not a vacation, but a time apart to share, encourage, rehabilitate, and de-stress. God was in the middle of each conversation.

For me, there was an added feature. I didn't sleep well, and that was God's doing. God had a chance to get me alone at the very end of each day, like a father having a one-on-one talk with one of his boys. I needed badly to be corrected in certain areas of my relationship with my heavenly Father and, well, a good parent does not pass up golden opportunities to guide their offspring.

No, I hadn't done anything terribly wrong. God just needed to stop me from beating myself up about things I couldn't accomplish, that He never meant me to pursue. There were other avenues to walk that I hadn't even noticed.

So, you see, a "mountain top experience" may not always be joyous. It may be simply life-changing.