Decided to tackle the four beast mountain alone. I picked the more common route of starting at the tiger and ending at elephant. And all I could think of was how it mimicked life.

As I climbed, it was ridiculously tough getting to the top. Many times I could have given up. There were so many reasons to give up. The skies looked bad. I was tired with no food due to no planning... but I continued despite wondering what I was doing to myself.

At one point I was feeling lost and wondering if I was headed in the right direction. So I stopped and asked for help from a stranger. He continued the journey with me to the point we had to part. Even after I reached the peak, heading back down wasn't easy. There were still some times where I had to walk up to walk down. And walking downwards was difficult in its own way.

When I finally got to the bottom, there was a sense of something being finished. I wasn't necessarily a better me... but I was a different me. I had something new to describe me.

It wasn't so much that the climb mimicked life. But the climb was like any trial or phase in life. There are the climaxes and the pains to getting there and coming down from it. But help comes when I ask and I'm usually surprised by the help I get.

And after it's all said and done, being a better person is a definite bonus. But we don't necessarily become a better person. Like the Wicked song, "who can say I've been changed for the better? But... I have been changed for good."

And in these moments, the beauty of creation still stands around me, waiting for me to stop and stare and know that He's there through it all.


Always grateful for these moments of peace that allow me to find myself once again and calibrate my life in accordance to His. Always grateful and always working at it.