The Mountaintop

If there's one thing I hate about being on a mountain top, it's that you spend more time going up the mountain and going down the mountain than you do being on top of it. Sure the journey is cool!!! Sure the views on the way up are cool and the feeling of satisfaction and accomplishment you get from conquering a mountain is quite a thrill. And of course the view at the top is like nothing else. It's AWESOME!! It's Breath-taking!! You get a different perspective at the top. You get to see where you've been and reflect on what you had to go through to get up there. I realize that in most cases all of the sweat and time and energy it took to get to the mountain top, all the doubt you had of whether you could get to the top, all of the steps you had to take, the times where you lost your footing and then regained it somehow, the switchbacks and ups, was worth going through just to get to the top.
It's peaceful up at the top. Things are more clear. Not only do you get to see where you've been, but a lot of times you get to see where you are going also. You usually get direction for where to go next.
But unfortunately, and this is the part that I hate most as I said, you spend more time ascending and descending the mountain than you do on top. I'm mean, you can't camp up there. You can stay for a little while but if you stay too long circumstances will dictate, almost mandate that the descent will be harder and therefore more dangerous.
Being on the mountain top, you do get a good view. You can see everything for miles. You become more aware of the surroundings and you can sometimes look and see places of rest, water, and even places to avoid. But you can also see the storms coming. You can also tell when it it starts to get darker; when night is coming. Sometimes we enjoy the view so much though that either we don't see them or we choose to ignore them. Those two factors alone can put you off the mountain prematurely.
After a long journey, I got to the mountain top this summer. In more ways than one. The journey was hard. There was doubt at times that I could get to the top. There was struggle and there was triumph. There were sorrows and joys. There were times along the way to the top to get fed so that I could be replenished and strengthened to carry on. There were times of rest. There were paces, sprints, and drags. The top was memorable. Satisfying. Breath-taking. Full of gladness and joy. I wanted to stay there as long as and take in as much as I could. But, then the storm clouds started closing in. It also started to get darker as night moved in. I knew that the time to go was drawing near!! And as I look at the map I realize that there is one other thing that I didn't factor in, one thing that is as probable as it is inescapable. The trail marked out for me has another mountain top and it's bigger and better than the last one. You can see more. But the catch is that the next mountain seems like it's twice as long and seems to be twice as difficult to traverse.
The irony of life!! Nothing stays the same for two long. Just like they say in good ole' Wisconsin, "If you don't like the weather, just wait a minute. It'll change."
Life never stays the same for too long no matter if you're in good times or in bad times. It's a blessing and a cures.