The Mountain Views of Psalm 121

Hello, my name is Katie, and I’m a controller. I often fall victim to the temptation to believe that I can design my own life. I, the industrious Katie Pickard, will be, do and have everything I’ve always wanted to be, do and have. It will all be just lovely, because gosh-darn-it, I will “make it so”!

Unfortunately, despite my last name, I’m no captain of a starship (hollar trekkies!), and I’m sure you’re all shocked to learn that despite my efforts to “make it so”, I’m a crappy life designer. I have an infant and a toddler who get the final sign-off on the perfect schedules I set for each day, a much-loved husband who lives with an incurable and rare cancer, and a surprising lack of wisdom on my part to hold all the pieces of my “well-designed” life together. When life goes sideways, I am in awe of what I am incapable of controlling, and it frustrates the tar out of me. It does, that is, if I focus on me.

That’s why I dig Psalm 121. Ever been to the mountains? Ever climbed one, looked over the edge of one, or felt small next to one? I spent my childhood summers enjoying the grandeur of what God can design when land has gone sideways. A 14,000-foot mountain is a thing of wonder to behold. I was then and am now in awe when I acknowledge what God is capable of when things don’t go the way they’re “supposed to”. So when I’m looking down at a life that hasn’t gone according to plan, I am grateful for the reminder to lift my eyes up, focus on the work of a Master Designer and see a vista full of beauty and possibility.

Where does your help come from?