Let Us Go Up to the Mountain of the Lord
Let Us Go Up to the Mountain of the Lord
By Angela Halliday
Hills and mountains; streams and rivers; flowers and trees! Summer in the Rocky Mountains makes my heart sing! Some people are ocean and beach people, but give me the mountains any day!
The past few weeks, I’ve spent some time hiking and playing with people I love deeply in the mountains of Idaho and Colorado. I can imagine and name very few places I love more. My heart soars as I connect with nature, with those with whom I am spending time, and with heaven.
Four days ago, thirteen members of our ward (church congregation) drove to the base of the highest mountain in Colorado (the second highest point in the contiguous United States), Mt. Elbert! Then, we hiked it together! Combatting altitude sickness, lack of oxygen, age (for a few of us), sore muscles, screaming joints, exhaustion, and mental fatigue, we summited the glorious 14,439-foot peak! It took waking at 2:45 am, driving nearly three hours to the trailhead, hiking over TEN miles, and then driving back home again. But, oh what a reward! Simply unparalleled views. No-you can’t see those vistas any other way. No vehicle can get you there. Our own legs, our own lungs took us there. Our own eyes saw the neighboring peaks, the alpine splendor, the divine resplendence. God’s love abounds! No words are eloquent enough to match the euphoria!
“Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who shall stand in his holy place?” (Psalm 24:3)
It takes preparation and grit to climb. Many may climb and even ascend. However, to stand in a holy place, the psalmist continues, one must have “clean hands, and a pure heart.” (Psalm 24:4)
Despite their beauty and splendor, the “ascent” and the “mountains” that matter most are not the Rocky Mountains or any earthly mountains at all. Last weekend, my family (my husband, my parents and each of our children and their spouses, as well as the grandbaby) gathered together to celebrate our eldest son’s choice to enter the “mountain of the Lord’s house” (Isaiah 2:2) to be endowed with power from on high. Along with our home, the temple is a place I love more than even the mountains!
All we do in families and in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is aimed to help each other get to the temple to make covenants and participate in holy ordinances with the Lord! This is the point! Then, we work to keep these covenants.
Many lessons that can be learned by preparing for a difficult hike and then doing it can be likened to getting to the “mountain of the Lord’s house.”
Some ruminations on the basics:
1. Preparations happen every day by small and simple steps. Daily workouts, daily nutrition, daily scripture study, daily prayers, daily righteous choices. (Alma 37:6)
2. The people in front of you are inspiring. Look to those who have already done it. It can be done.
3. Remember, oh remember. I’ve done hard things before. The Lord helped me then, He will help me again. (And He has sent lots of people to help me along the way.)
4. Gratitude-it changes everything. I live in this amazing place during this amazing time with 100’s of temples on the earth!
I’ve written about temples before, and this is isn’t intended to be a treatise on what happens there, but the ascent to this mountain should happen over and over again throughout our life. No other hill is worthy of our best efforts of climbing, even Everest or Kilimanjaro! Each time I enter the doors, worship there, recommit myself to living the covenants I have made there, and help others make and keep covenants, I imagine myself closer into Jesus’ loving arms-where I want to reside forever!
Read the following two talks for more insight:
Who Shall Ascend into the Hill of the Lord?
Come Let Us Go Up to the Mountain of the Lord
Listen to this beautiful song:
Read the lyrics to this beautiful song:
Behold, the Mountain of the Lord
