Christian Living

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Mt. Life

It was on that fateful day, many a year ago, that I took my first unsure step up the steep ascent that lies before us all. I remember still the large wooden sign that hung above the pathway up that mountain, proclaiming its name in proud carved letters: Life.
If only I had known then what a monumental step I was taking, known the many things that were to come farther up the mountain in the years following, I don’t deny I might have sat myself down in resignation then and there at the foot of the great towering mountain.
But, in my naivety I journeyed forth, placing my trust completely in Life. As I hurried on this wide pathway up the mount, the way was smooth and pleasant and all a young heart could wish for. I would see along the path happy little sights that gave me enjoyment in my travels. The sun would shine and the butterflies flitter across the pathway, and all was good and remarkably lovely on Life.

The time passed quickly, but I was in no hurry and things were simple. Then one morning I came upon a curve in the mountain path. Beyond this curve, I caught sight of a beautiful young lamb on the side of the track. It was nibbling on some fresh green grass, still wet with the morning’s dew. I was delighted at the discovery and stood still, watching the little lamb.
Just then, a boy came flying around the bend, hooting and hollering in unrestrained pitch, running recklessly towards the lamb. The startled little thing bleated pitifully and fled its patch of grass with the boy chasing after, laughing in his piece of selfish entertainment.
I felt that a terrible injustice had been done. The peacefulness of the mountain had suddenly been shattered.
Soon, I saw the boy come sauntering back. He held a bored expression on his chubby face. As he passed me on the pathway he muttered indifferently, “That didn’t please me much.”
I remarked to the boy that the lack of pleasure was probably due to guilt over the pain he had caused the innocent creature.
“No, I don’t care about a stupid lamb. I do what I want.” Was his reply.
This was the first cruel thing I had witnessed on Life.
As the days went on, no it was weeks and months indeed, the mountain pathway became steeper and harder to climb. At first the change was gradual, but then the rocky terrain steadily grew worse. It was no longer with ease I hiked this mountain.
I soon came to a fork in the path. A new trail leading to the right was well beaten down and held a small sign of neon flashing: Adolescence, in bright colors. I, of course, choose this new trail with growing excitement.
The days that followed my journey down the trail Adolescence flew by at a great speed. I soon began to encounter many other fellow travelers of Life along the way.

It will always stand out in my memory, however, the day I came across a small encampment of hikers. I paused on the trail to watch them. Seeing me standing there, they called out and offered that I join them. With curiosity, I entered their camp.
Now my innocence was shocked by these hikers, for they seemed to find amusement in many things I couldn’t understand at all.
One young man seemed he couldn’t be satisfied with sitting still, and was constantly on the move around the camp, talking to this person, examining this object, and pacing nervously all the time. I tried several times to point out to him the lovely woods around us, and convince him to settle down and look at the simple beauty in front of him, but he wouldn’t heed me.
Then there were a certain two girls who found great enjoyment out of walking past a group of young men while giggling idiotically and whispering behind their hands. They would thus parade themselves back and forth, up and down, in front of these poor boys, all the while looking and sounding all the world like two squawking hens.
I was still trying to understand this mystery, when they befuddled me further by each in turn running forward and touching one of the young men. They would playfully swat one boy’s arm, while winking candidly at the boy next to him. Then to make my confusion even greater, the girls switched young men and began patting the other’s boy with equal (or so it would seem) fondness.
I dare say, the young men were just as confused as I. What fun the girls could get out of this mess, I was at a loss for understanding.
Walking around the camp, I came upon a small party of young people, completely involved in an argument. It seemed there was a disagreement on which of them was the best. They all seemed to claim the title as their own and, as I saw, they were all willing to prove to each other their worth. This was achieved in various ways.
Some gave proof of their worth my drowning themselves in a strange liquid that came out of an amber bottle, and which had an interesting affect on the drinkers. A few, in their fever to prove themselves, passed out after too much of the bottle’s contents.
Others were busy sticking a short white stick inside their mouth and breathing from it a toxic smoke that’s smell was poison to my lungs and reeked of death itself.
I left this party of young people, and looking back, I saw them all slumped in odd positions, with distorted faces and quiet now of their claims of worth in each other’s eyes.

Before too long, I noticed that the trail I followed was petering out. I had to climb steep and jagged boulders, and constantly keep a watch out for fellow travelers, who of late had taken to pushing each other off the side of the mountain in order to progress on Life.
Once, as I was clinging frantically to a cliff I was struggling to ascend, I heard the nearing echoes of an avalanche. Fear gripped my heart with icy fingers, and I thought for a moment my end had come. Rocks began falling around me, boulders whizzing past my head, and the cliff shook with terrifying force.
Then, a head peered over the cliff and seeing my state, I hoped would rescue me from certain peril. However, to my great distress, the face merely gave me a fleeting look and turned away, attention caught by some other little trifle. Not finding my state to affect its affairs in the least, the head left my sight to look into its own worries.
Hence, I was doomed to wait out the avalanche, clinging onto Life’s cliff. The tremor passed and I was able to pull myself to the top of the cliff, were I all but kissed the ground from relief.
I began noting that the days seemed longer, my limbs grew tired and ached, and I began to see the top of the mountain come into view. I felt a profound peace in this sight. A desire to reach the summit as soon as could be managed filled my thoughts and heart.
But as I climbed farther up, I realized the other travelers of Life were not so eager as I to reach the end of our journey, indeed they were half crazed with the fear of it. I saw some stop on the rocks and make an attempt to stay there and not move forward. Others even tried to go back down the mountain towards the little trail Adolescence.
But, these foolish travelers never could succeed, and in the end they put their journey to a more sudden conclusion than those that continued climbing to the top.

And now, as I stand on the very edge of the summit, I look back down the mountain at the journey I have traversed. I see again the places where I slipped and fell, where at moments I climbed victoriously over tough terrain, and the spots where I strolled tranquilly along the path in bliss.
Then I turn my weary eyes forward, to the summit I must soon reach. At the very peak of the mountain, rising through the clouds, a gleaming cross sits regally upon the summit. The cross, the very reason for Life itself. A single tear slides down my check and I take a last fateful step, knowing my journey on Life has come to an end.

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