On the Mountain

So, this morning I was meditating on today’s reading and, through a series of thoughts, started thinking about how we should always be striving to do better. This striving is a continuous process that must go forward through the rest of our lives. I then started thinking about the analogy how it’s like climbing a mountain, but not being able to reach the top (at least in this lifetime). As I started thinking, I felt like it was going somewhere and I began wishing I had brought my journal and a writing utensil. Then, I noticed a lone pencil lying at the end of the pew and realized I had a completely blank sheet of paper tucked inside my Bible. How convenient, huh? I wrote out my thoughts as they came and even drew a little picture. I’ll spare you the picture, but this is what I wrote:

Our spiritual life is like climbing up a mountain, but we cannot reach the top in this lifetime. The summit of the mountain is communion with God in Heaven. He is our aim, our ultimate prize we strive for. Where I am at on the mountain, you may have reached at age 13 and someone else may not reach it until age 56. None of us take the same pathway up the mountain, but we must help our fellow travelers as we see them. If travelers are ahead of us, we can take the opportunity to see how they got up and follow them to the top, to the summit, to the Lord. If travelers are at our same level, we can look out for and support one another to the top. It is those behind us who are most in need of our help. It is dangerous to climb down the mountain to grab them, so we must pull them up and nourish them in spirit. We must clear a pathway and provide them with tools to find their way up the mountain. Some travelers are without a map or directions or even a compass and can’t find which way is up. They may try going all sorts of wrong directions, running into traps that keep them from moving upwards or even force them to go backwards. Some may not have enough support and will stumble or fall down the mountain. Some are not prepared and find themselves hungry or suffering unfavorable weather conditions. Others are afraid to find help and encounter ravenous animals instead. We must find all of these travelers and bring them to safety, on the journey towards the top, towards complete communion with Our Lord, to the site of ultimate perfection.

We’re all on this journey and we all need help at some point in our lives. Be that help for someone.