Chapter 50: Run To the Hills
“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.” Henry David Thoreau
I grew up in West Central Illinois, about 20 miles from the Mississippi River. This part of Illinois is pretty with its fields of beans and corn. It is relatively flat terrain. People who are not used to seeing for miles and miles complain of eye strain when they come here. There are a few hills, but they’re not too big, big enough to enjoy a ride down them on your bike but not so high that you can’t make it back up the other side. When I graduated college I moved to St. Louis, Missouri. The hills there and farther south, where Mr. MDMM’s family is from, are big. I recall being in Missouri and really loving the smell of the oak and hickory trees in the forest and the act of walking over the top of one hill, only to be met by another hill. The first time I moved to Colorado I remember thinking that Missouri hills are tiny compared to the massive rock formations of the Rocky Mountains. I was overwhelmed by the sheer size of these mountains towering over me. It would take a while for me to adjust to the feeling of being surrounded by rock hills.
The U.S. Geological Survey has concluded that there is no official difference between hills and mountains. Both are pieces of terrain which you must go up to get to the summit point. In the past, hills were defined as having a summit of less than 1,000 feet, but this has not been a classified distinction since the 1970s. Most people would say that a hill is easier to climb while a mountain is more difficult. Some would argue that a hill is rounded and a mountain is peeked, but this is not always the case. While there are many thoughts of distinctions between a mountain and a hill, I can personally say that when faced with a Rocky Mountain mountain or an Illioinis hill the mountain is much more intimidating and impressive.
What I have gleaned from living in the flat lands and living in the land of mountains is that God, in His great wisdom, has made these lands perfect exactly where they are and for a very specific purpose. In every terrain He has made a spot to truly find Him and visualize His presence and plan. He formed the tall snow capped peaks perfectly, just as He smoothed flat the land in the plains. In the heartland, we find refuge in the forests with the tantalizing smell of the oaks and maples. In the mountainous lands we find refuge in the sweet smell of the sun warming the Ponderosa Pines. In every location He has ever sent our family, we have been blessed by the discovery of a piece of woods where we can learn, relax, and breathe.
As Thoreau wrote, he went into the woods to see what it could teach him. He wanted to know that he was truly alive and that he had actually lived, and the only way he could do that was to connect with nature in the woods. He ran to the hills to truly find himself and to honestly know that he was alive. The hills we run to do not have to be large and impressive. They do not have to tower above us and fill us with a sense that we are truly tiny in this world, although that is an amazing experience to have. They can be tiny little hills in an otherwise flat space where we can rise above and see the vast beauty God has designed for us to enjoy. To run to the hills is to seek something beyond yourself, to learn to rely on God for your lessons in life, to see what He has made for your pleasure, and to see that while you may be little compared to the world, you are big in His eyes and you have a very definite purpose to complete for Him, whether it be in the mountains or in the hills.
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