THE MOUNTAIN

Around the bend---

straight ahead in my path, with no apparent warning it stands, THE MOUNTAIN.  Just when everything is going well with some degree of normalcy, life is controllable and all is well, it stands ahead, THE MOUNTAIN.  So tall, so wide, so dangerous, so frightening, and no way around it, THE MOUNTAIN.  There is no other way down this path, no backing up, no detour, only straight ahead and yet, there it stands, THE MOUNTAIN. 

Unable to go any further, I stop and ponder, “How can I?”  Maybe if I begin climbing I could reach the top, but what is beyond?  I just was not prepared for this mountain, I am not very good at climbing, and why is it here?  So many questions, no answers, only a mountain.  Then I remember the promise, “if you but pray the prayer of faith and ask that this mountain be moved, it will be cast into the sea.”  A promise, yes, believable, well not really up until this point, but now, I have no choice but to say I cannot control this, but with my faith, You can.  The Mover of mountains stands ready to help me over the roughest terrain or to completely remove this mountain from my path.

What is the cost?  Very high, but it has been paid for me, it was a gift.  Maybe that is why the world does not see its’ value, it’s a free gift.

Who put the mountain in my path?  Perhaps God, perhaps Satan, or perhaps I created it.  It matters not how it came to be here, only that One of these three has the power to move it.

What is the mountain?  Mine was cancer, but yours may be any number of things.  The death of a loved one, a mate who has left you, your livelihood lost, alcoholism, a child’s sickness, drug abuse...whatever the mountain is, it is very real, very frightening, and totally unclimbable or unmovable from a human standpoint.  But there is a Mountain Mover in my life and when I hold His hand, I am no longer frightened.  And when I look back on the mountain, it doesn’t seem quiet as large, or as frightening, or as impossible.  As the mountain has decreased, my faith in the Mountain Mover has grown, and hopefully so have I.  

                       

 –R. Pledge November 1993