Sailing to Bombay

            In the early 1950s William Hutchison Murray, a Scottish mountain climber, was asked to join and then organize an expedition to the Himalayas.  In recounting the preparations for the expedition, Murray wrote of the moment when everything changed, when the epic journey moved from being just an idea towards being a reality.

“We had definitely committed ourselves and were half-way out of our ruts. We had put down our passage money – booked a sailing to Bombay. This may sound simple, but is great in consequence. Until one is committed there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way.” (W.H.Murray, The Scottish Himalayan Expedition (1951), quoted in Weavings Vol, XXV, Number 4 (2010))

            For many of us, being free from anxiety, the ability to stop worrying, is the impossible mountain to climb.  In what has to be the most memorable of sermons ever preached,  Jesus spoke about the way to scale these seemingly impossible heights. He does not command us not to worry, as if that would work. No, instead he says make the shift in priorities, change the focus, move off of yourself and your worries and think about and work towards the cause of God, and everything else will fall into place.   Jesus says, make that commitment to God, and the rest will follow. “Strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all things will be given you as well.” (Matthew 6:33)

            It is what Murray says happened for him once they booked those tickets for Bombay. Once they made that commitment, everything else began to fall into place. “The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too.” Living without anxiety and worries is not the starting point, it is the result of committing yourself to God and to the kingdom of heaven. Make that commitment, and you will find that resources unlooked for will come your way, that help unexpected will be at hand.

            Climbing the mountain begins with making the commitment, by putting your trust not in yourself or your planning or your efforts, but in the God who holds you and loves and will give you everything you need.

            Now this is not to say, of course, that everything we wish for is what God will send our way!  Jesus promises that what we need we will receive, but that does not mean that everything we want is what we will receive; we know this when we pray, “thy will be done”, but of course it is one of the hardest thing to live.

            I sometimes wonder if Jesus planned to deliver that famous sermon of his on a mountain because he knew that we all have so many mountains to climb in our life, and that we fret and worry about whether or not we have the energy and the power and the ability to do this.  His good news for us is that no, we probably don’t have the energy and the power and the ability to climb all those mountains. We don’t,  but he does. And he will share that power with you, if only you book those tickets to Bombay, make that commitment, and strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness.