The word bolster as a verb means to prop up, strengthen. And that is what mountains can seem to do. Here's a poem with that in mind:
The Mountains Are A Lonely Folk
The mountains they are silent folk,
They stand afar---alone;
And the clouds that kiss their brows at night
Hear neither sigh nor groan.
Each bears him in his ordered place
As soldiers do, and bold and high
They fold their forests round their feet
And bolster up the sky.
---Hamlin Garland.
What is it about a mountain that compels us to look upon its beauty, to want to climb it's rocky surface, to stand on top and gaze off into the distant horizon? What enthralls us about a mountain's wildness? We stand in awe and are reminded in fresh ways of our smallness and of another entity's largeness. We find words inadequate beyond the usual "Wow!" and "Beautiful!" Being near or on top of a mountain is a good way to gain fresh perspective. It seems for a time, at least, to minimize the everyday stuff of our lives that looms so large. And it sharpens into focus what really matters, and Who needs to dominate our thinking. I think about what King David wrote years ago, perhaps in a field with his sheep surrounded by mountains. He gained perspective from the mountains lifting his gaze from earth to the Creator of those mountains.....
I look up to the mountains---
does my help come from there?
My help comes from the Lord,
who made heaven and earth!
---Psalm 121:1,2
Looking up at those massive walls of rock, and climbing over the boulder fields on the way up Medicine Bow Peak this past weekend also brought to mind the metaphor David wrote about God...
The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my savior;
my God is my rock, in whom I find protection.
He is my shield, the power that saves me,
and my place of safety.
Psalm 18:2
Be brave and courageous!
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