Lessons from the Mountain

Sacrament Meeting talk

April, 1999

Minasan konnichiwa!

I'm from Arizona, went to Japan on my mission, and recently took a job with Microsoft. I have a few real passions: hiking, music (I led a choir and aspire to write a symphony), writing (web page of fun and spiritual stories).

I haven't given a talk in three years, so I feel like I should share some accumulated knowledge and wisdom of this time span. Please forgive me for sharing "the gospel according to Ray" - I can't help it! I'm going to talk about mountains.

I gain spiritual strength and inspiration from mountains. They help me to understand myself and the Lord better. I am amazed how much they bring me closer to Him and to the threefold mission of the church: perfect the saints, redeem the dead, and proclaim the gospel.

The Lord has a special place in His heart for mountains. Joel 3:17: "I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain." He likens the restored gospel to a great mountain. Dan. 2:35: stone became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth, cut out of the mountain w/o hands. He wants us to come to Him through going to mountains, both figuratively and I like to think literally. Is. 2:2-3: "Many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths." I love that scripture! He wishes to bring us to his holy mountain. Is. 56: 7: Them will I bring to my holy mountain.

He often taught His prophets on mountains: Moses, Nephi, Ezekiel.

I have learned many gospel lessons, often symbolic parallels to the actual experiences, from going to the mountains. I would like to share "true confessions of an addicted hiker," a list of five accumulated treasures of knowledge I have learned.

One. Take time to notice God's creations.

We really lead busy distracting complex lives. In the mountains we become one with God. We don't have all those things distracting us. "Consider the lilies, how they grow ... even Solomon in his glory was not arrayed as one of these." For all of man's great inventions, we still cannot even come close to God's great creations. D&C 104:14,17: The earth is the Lord's handiwork. He made all of this for us to enjoy - He loves us so much! It is important for us to realize this. In nature we remember the things that are really important in life. If we are truly going to come to know Him and to become like Him, which is our goal, we have a lot to learn about His creations. I like to think that that is one reason why I like finding new places to explore all the time!

Two. Set high goals, then work to achieve them.

The very image of climbing a mountain is aesthetic. At the bottom one is overwhelmed by the immensity of the mountain they are setting off to conquer, but a goal has been set. Along the way, there are occasional glimpses of vistas, and always beautiful scenery. Sure there are tough obstacles on the way, but since the goal is set, the more one focuses on the destination as well as enjoying the ride, the happier one is. Such is life. "Begin with the end in mind." But at the same time happiness is a journey not a destination.

People like asking me if I am an "enjoy-the-ride" journey hiker or a destination hiker. I like to believe I am both and that we need to be both in our attitudes about life!

Three. Remember, Remember.

When I am away from mountains I romanticize the whole event, making it out to be all fun and no pain. Well, yesterday, I climbed Mt. Si and I remembered really quickly how tough it is to climb a mountain! It's not easy at all! I just wish I could get placed at the top, like Ezekiel, who said Ez. 40:2: The Lord set me upon a very high mountain. But at the same time I was amazed by how wonderful it was to be there and to feel at one with the Lord. This is just like life. One of the things the Lord wants us most to do is to remember what we have already learned. Or as Helaman said to his sons: "Remember Remember!". Remember that testimony that you worked so hard to get, remember how strong the spirit was felt when you KNEW the gospel was true, remember that Jesus truly died for us, loves us and is waiting to help us. Remember that He never said it would be easy; he only said it would be worth it. There are many times when I don't quite feel the spirit as strong as I would like to, but I try to remember how strong I felt it before and have faith in those experiences I have already had.

So how do we get that constant spiritual nourishment that we need in order to grow spiritually? By doing what we have been asked to do, pray with full purpose of heart on a regular basis, keep a journal of spiritual events and be sure to look back at them when you need recharging, read scriptures diligently, and attend the temple often. This leads to my next big lesson learned from the mountain.

Four. Go often to the Lord's School for learning, enlightenment, and perspective.

Yes. We need to go to the temple often to be spiritually recharged, to learn what the Lord wants us to learn, and to gain spiritual perspective. The Temple is the Lord's School. I have found that attending a temple session is like taking a spiritual journey, going from God's presence, to man's fallen state due to sin, and following a path back to Him. How did I learn all this from going to the mountain? One day in 1997 I went on a hike in some mountains in Arizona, called the Mazatzal Mountains. I later wrote an account of my experience called "Ten Hours in Paradise" summing up the experience. I said: "you feel exultant from the experience of being so close to God, but you have to leave, go back to the real world, and earn the right to come back." That's just like the temple!

I like the lyrics to this song by Steven Curtis Chapman called 'The mountain.' It ties the experience of the temple to that of the mountain so well in that it shows how the Lord teaches us.

"I would love to live up on this mountain

And keep the pain of living life so far away

But I know I can't stay up on the mountain...

I said I'd go, Lord, wherever You lead

For where You are is where I most want to be

And I can tell we're heading for the valley...

You bring me up here on the mountain

For me to rest and learn and grow

I see the truth up on the mountain

And I carry it to the world far below

So as I go down to the valley

Knowing that You will go with me

This is my prayer, Lord

Help me to remember what You've shown me

Up on the mountain."

Five. "You can't go to Heaven alone"

One last lesson that I learned while I spent "Ten Hours in Paradise" was how important it was to share the important things in life with others. I could hike mountains all I want, but if I don't share them with others my experience is completely meaningless. I can even talk about my favorite mountains until I'm blue in the face, but until I get my friends to go there with me and see what incredible scenery I've seen I might as well just not have ever put my boots on. It's like how Big Bird tried and tried to show Snufflupugus to his friends, but they never believed he existed because they never saw him! It's just like how Lehi felt when he had partaken of the fruit of the tree of life. He was compelled to share the fruit with his family. And the Lord has taught "How great shall be your joy if ye shall bring one soul unto me" D&C18:15-6. The same is true for us today. If we were to make it to Heaven by ourselves we would be awfully sad, bored, and lonely. In fact the Lord has taught that we can't make it alone. About doing temple work for the dead, the Lord has said D&C 128:15: Their salvation is necessary and essential to our salvation...they without us cannot be made perfect - neither can we without our dead be made perfect. If we change the words to apply to our friends, we get a new perspective. The Lord has also taught literally that we can't reach highest degree of the celestial kingdom alone - for this we must have a celestial marriage.

No, we can't go to Heaven on our own. We need to invite all to come to Christ by proclaiming the gospel, redeeming our dead, and perfecting the saints. So I say unto you, "Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord." It is my prayer that we will be found worthy of the great gift of eternal life, that we may be brought to live with our Heavenly Father in His holy mountain. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.