Behind my house there is a hill

Behind my house there is a hill. And on the top of that hill there are some rocks. And when I clamber to stand astride that stone I gaze out on a wondrous scene. There, stretching away beneath me is the Atlantic Ocean. “A dark illimitable ocean without bound, without dimension, where length, breadth and highth and time and place are lost.”* Is it any wonder that I feel closer to God my Father here? For it is here that I glimpse the ocean of love that he has for me, that same love, so limitless it passes our earthly understanding (Eph 3:18-19), that is made so real and obvious by this tiny corner of creation.

My Father in heaven is a God who has created beautiful things and has done so on an epic scale. As I stare from the hill behind my house I can turn from one Cornish coast to the other and it truly stirs my soul to worship the one who made this. I feel so close to Him when I look out on to His creation, absorbing images of the things that He first imagined then sculpted. When I am up high on hills or mountains it feels as though I am finally seeing His world from His perspective.

Last summer I trekked through a region of the Himalaya. Never have I seen beauty and wonder on such a stage. The uncompromising enormity of those landscapes and the breathtaking glory of the mountains will never leave me. And when I lay upon the grass of the campsites and stared out into space to see uncountable numbers of stars, a view unhindered by man’s night lights, I found myself contemplating with amazement my Father God who is big enough to fill all of creation.

This is the God who meets me atop my small Cornish hill. This is He who I meet on the summit of Himalayan peaks, and when I walk in His creation. This is the God who calms turbulent oceans and softens violent winds. This is the God whose love for me is without end, who gave His own and only son to die in my place, undeserving as I am. This is the God that draws close to me and this is the God who, in my own very small way, I love back.

* from “Paradise Lost” by Milton