Nov 30 2007
A Parable
Life is kind of like a hill.
I was given a picture this morning of a man working like crazy getting up a hill. There were many others going up the hill and he enjoyed the fact that they were with other people trying to get up the hill too. There was this great light on the hill, too beautiful for words, and they all wanted to get there.
Most hills aren’t smooth gradual things but bumpy lumpy things. They have ups and downs, but mostly ups. The man started up a new path at one point. It looked a little more interesting than the other paths to him.
The people nearest him tried to shout him down from the new path. “You can’t go there, that’s just not right!” But he kept going. He was still making progress, up, but was leaving behind the crowd. He knew they cared about him, but he was still going up wasn’t he? That seemed to be the most important thing. Still, it nagged at him that they didn’t support him in his new direction, or even come with him.
Finally, a crest was reached. He reached it alone, and thought he should feel triumph, but success had lost its flavour, and there was nobody around to celebrate with him. His thoughts kept taking his eyes back over his right shoulder. He couldn’t take his mind off the people who shouted at him when he started up this path. He had forgotten that at the top there was supposed to be light.
Being at a crest, he thought to himself that the only way left now was down. He didn’t really want to go that way, but it was easier than climbing. So he started down the back side of the crest.
The hill was still there though. The crest was but a shoulder. He didn’t see that the hill kept going up to the left, because of the distraction of looking over his shoulder, to the right.
After going down the mountain for a while, he encountered an old friend. The goofball that the friend was, he tried an old trick. “Hey, look over there!” Strangely enough, it worked. The guy looked left, and saw the hill again. And the light at the top, that was so attractive before - he had forgotten how beautiful it was. He knew where he had to go now.
He turned left.
