In the Rose Garden

Yesterday at College we had a Discipleship Day, or D-Day for short, where we spent time together as BA Theology students and had a day of worship and of quiet reflection. The main passage that we were reflecting on was Psalm 121. It's a psalm that is quite well known and used regularly, particularly when people are going through a hard time in their life. It reminds them of God's constant watching and help throughout such difficult times.

For part of the day we took an hour out to go and sit in a quiet place where we could spend time with God and reflect over the passage. I went to one of my favourite spots in the college to sit and pray- the Rose Garden. This was quite powerful for me and I shall explain a few of my thoughts that I had throughout this time of reflection.

Verse 1 starts with:
'I lift my eyes up to the mountains.'
With this verse I started by thinking about what the psalmist meant by lifting his eyes to the mountains, then the question came to mind of 'What are the mountains in my life?' Things like work load, worries about the future, and the general generic things came to mind first, but then I read on to the second part of this verse which asks the question 'Where does my help come from?' and it struck me that the things or the people that I turn to for help, before I turn to God could in fact be those mountains in my life which are preventing me to be completely committed to God and turning to Him in every situation for help. I am relying too much on the words and actions of people around me that in doing so they are creating a mountain between me and God.

Verse 2 says:
'My help comes from the Lord, the maker of heaven and earth.'
I guess with this I began to struggle as for me personally, God as creator seemed so different to my personal relationship with God and I struggled to connect the two different aspects of God's personality together. However as I sat on the bench at the top of the rose garden, I lifted my eyes up to take in creation and take in how the same God that created such amazing scenery could also speak so personally to me and into my life. Above the bench were I was sat were two trees which formed a canopy of leaves above me. As I looked up and noticed this it struck me that these trees and the leaves that covered my head were acting as protection against the sun and in this I saw a powerful metaphor of the protection that God has created with these trees, is similar to the protection that He provides even though I can't see it. God's protection to me is a canopy of leaves in his marvellous creation.

I have gone on and thought about the rest of the psalm however I feel that for now that it enough of an insight into some of my thoughts from yesterday.

1 I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
    where does my help come from?
2 My help comes from the Lord,
    the Maker of heaven and earth.

3 He will not let your foot slip—
    he who watches over you will not slumber;
4 indeed, he who watches over Israel
    will neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord watches over you—
    the Lord is your shade at your right hand;
6 the sun will not harm you by day,
    nor the moon by night.

7 The Lord will keep you from all harm—
    he will watch over your life;
8 the Lord will watch over your coming and going
    both now and forevermore.