Recently, I spoke with a new friend who shares my love of travel. We discovered we had both toured Mont St. Michel, an enormous abbey that sits atop a small island in Normandy, France. This popular attraction celebrates its 1,000th birthday this year, making it a beloved and historic landmark. It is truly a sight to behold! Around its base are medieval walls and towers above which rise clusters of buildings that make up the village with the ancient abbey rounding off the top.
The gigantic structure rises sharply out of Mont St. Michel Bay. Most of the time it is surrounded by vast sandbanks but becomes an island at high tide. St. Aubert, bishop of Avranches, built a small chapel for private worship after having a vision of the archangel St. Michael. Since the 8th century, it’s been expanded to be a pilgrimage center, an abbey, a state prison under Napoleon I, and now a restored historic monument.
After walking endlessly to get to the base of the mount, then climbing over 957 steps to the top, I thought to myself, “Oh the things this place has endured.” From the panoramic view of the bay at the top, I imagined endless attempts to breach its medieval walls and invasion of the town at the bottom with its narrow streets winding up to the abbey. I imagined the underlying strength of character and energy the Lord gave the monks, prisoners, and townspeople to survive there.
The history of this magnificent place serves as a metaphor for all that the Lord reveals to us; the underlying strength of character that gives each of us the necessary energy and decision-making ability to live a life of faith. God strengthens us “with power through his Spirit in [our] inner being (Eph. 3:16).
The Lord is our strength to go on, by giving us the power to tread the long path, even when the wearisome way offers no pleasant surprises when our spirits are low. The Lord is our strength to go up by giving us the power to climb the winding narrow path up the hill no matter how difficult. The Lord is our strength to go down from atop the exhilarating heights where the wind and the sunlight surround us to the more confining and stifling heat of the valley below where our hearts grow faint. Sometimes it is coming down that tires us the most. Finally, the Lord is our strength to sit still. What a difficult skill that is! If only we could do something. It’s like the mother who stands by the side of her sick child and is powerless to heal. What a harsh test. Nevertheless, to do nothing except to sit still and wait requires enormous strength. Have you called on the Lord to be your strength?
The Lord is my strength and my power; he has become my salvation. This is my God, whom I will praise, the God of my ancestors, whom I will acclaim. – Exodus 15:2
