The Mountain

The Mountain


Like lemmings into the sea
or salmon to their spawning ground
knowing our ultimate end and
not caring, in quest of the destiny
for which we were placed here
by a God whom some know
and many do not.

Drawn to the top of this mountain called “Life”,
each of us by his own route, his own determination, or lack of it
his own strength, or weakness
his own sense of direction, purpose, goal –
Yet none of these really his own, but
predestinated by God before time was.

Each route up is its own –
for some, a gentle path, upon which a previous traveler
has toiled to remove the obstacles (‘tho there will be some);
For some, scrabble, so that every foot gained upward
is countered by a slide toward what’s below;
or a sheer face, with hand holds few and tenuous;
or a rough way, full of obstacles and dangers, but a way nonetheless.

We will all reach the end of our climb
either at the pinnacle,
plucked by the God of the mountain, to eternal rest with Him,
or at the base, fallen there finally
where neither life nor God abide.
And neither destination from our own efforts,
but from the One who started us on the journey.