Only those people who dare to climb —and climb higher every day— will trip, fall, make mistakes, run into problems… and perhaps even face death. Not so with those who come to a standstill in a pleasant sun-lit valley where God’s rod and staff are benevolent and not too demanding. It’s like having a mentally-handicapped child who is always a child; not because he was born that way, but because he doesn’t eat or drink or renew himself… and so, he produces spiritual frogs. Of course, he lives in golden palaces on the velvety light-green banks of a pond surrounded by beautiful gardens!

Everything is definitely fine in the pond! The water is warm and the air balmy. It’s the perfect place in which to live your own life. You decide on it and you don’t have to renounce much of anything. You only need to try and fulfill certain moral and ethical principles. By just doing this, you won’t be kicked out.

But, woe to those unhappy people who dare leave this haven to climb farther. They will begin to feel the cold freezing their feet; the wind blowing against their face. They will have to start forgetting the palaces and the feasts and pleasures of the pond. They will have to start taking off their best clothing and, naked, cover themselves with fur skins that the mountain gives them. They will eat roots and wild honey. They will wash their scratches and injuries in the water of the mountain spring, cold and dark.

They will have to trust in an unexplainable direction, forgetting prudence and common sense, to walk along paths that will not lead down from the mountain. Sometimes there will be any way out; only the precipice prevents them from continuing upwards. Then the ‘fanatic,’ the ‘ignorant,’ the ‘naive,’ and the ‘idiot’ will kneel down to pray to their God, asking for a bridge to be able to continue climbing. When the tears keep him from seeing, those tears of his will be that bridge on which to cross; something inexplicable, a Red Sea opening many times… always the unexpected!

Discipline is the rule of the mountain. Let no one think that here one can do as he pleases. All steps firmly made lead to failure. Only in prayer — asking for that unspeakable, unpronounceable, and invisible direction; only by looking for God is it possible to walk the mountain paths. Sometimes one cannot see or feel them because, quite simple, there is no path. Eyes are useless; one must use the eyes, hands, feet, and muscles… of faith.

Truly there is a reward. Hope will not be cut off. And in the end, the Father of the Mountain, the same merciful Father that doesn’t destroy the pond, will look you in the eye, and in His brightness you will know that you have done what is right. And He will call you: “Son, son of light, strong and valiant, ready, free… His son.”

© Manuel Ordax

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 5th, 2009 at 15:42 and is filed under faith issues / cuestión de fe, personal.