Mountain Peace

Since December 2014 I have been on a journey seeking to know the ‘truth about life’ and in the beginning I was not quite sure what I was looking for, but I was curious – so I started walking. The first few years I read a lot of books ranging from Personal Development, Philosophy all the way to the Bible in 2018. Now as a seeker, I have one rule - which is to always keep an open mind. That discipline has allowed my curiosity to be quenched every step of the way. Three years ago, whilst walking this path to ‘know’ I came across a mountain with what seemed like a little town right at the bottom of it, the aura of the place lit up a fire inside of my heart which led me to drop literally everything in my life to explore it – This mountain is called Spirituality.

As I walked through the gates, I met a man whom I assumed was the gatekeeper, I told him that I was a seeker looking for a place to stay within the town, he looked at me with a smile and said “I see you have come well-dressed” referring to the fact that I left all my luggage(commitments) behind. He then pointed to the top of the mountain and whispered to me “If you climb all the way to the top, you’ll find what you’ve been looking for and more than a place to stay” which was music to my ears as I happily went on my way.

I had to pass through the town and with that I came across all sorts of personalities, participated in the local festivities and even caught a glimpse of what we people call a ‘miracle’ all the way until the point where I was to start my ascent. I met another man there who was a ‘Watchman’ for the town and his duty was to climb the mountain every week to check for any looming dangers. Luckily, he was just about to embark on his weekly expedition of which I asked to tag along. The Mountain peak is quite high and only now did I understand what the gatekeeper meant when he said I was "well-dressed". The extra weight would have made my climb harder than it otherwise would have been.

The Watchman led the way and I followed closely making sure that I do not fall behind, sometimes I was maybe a little bit ‘too close’, but he was an understanding man, so he just laughed off my ‘fear of the unknown’. We continued our climb, and the mountain has weather of its own – one moment it is raining, excruciating heat the next, the journey really takes a toll on the body and mind, definitely no ‘soft-life’ here. We finally reached the top and I was beyond Exhausted, I crawled my way to the Watchman’s wooden house and I passed out. It didn't take long for me to awake and to my surprise – he had prepared a ‘mountain dinner’ for us of which we ate in complete silence. like I said, he is an understanding man.

After the meal I had regained some of my energy and he proceeded to show me around, the view is as beautiful as you can imagine but I still had many unanswered questions about Life, Truth and even God. I mentioned to him what the gatekeeper had said had I reached the top of the mountain, to which he responded by saying “If you try to figure out life, you will never understand it - Life and everything in it, is not something to ‘figure out’, it’s there to be experienced”. He then pointed toward the tip/peak of the mountain and instructed me to stand there for a moment and just look, what I see will further explain his earlier statement. I followed the instructions and stood at the peak of Spirituality –

From that point of view I could see the many people from the town below, it did not look as vibrant and happy as it did when I was walking through it. A lot of the people had wide smiles but were hurting inside. I could see that the pain and suffering from everyday life was eating away at their peace, happiness, hope and mostly their faith. They too were looking for something to rekindle the dying flame within them but did not know how to. I grew endearingly compassionate for the people of the town and thought “If only they looked up"...

In that moment, I realised that the fire that lit up inside of me when I first set my eyes on this mountain, was not just a fire but a Light – a Blessing, a Gift. It is only when I looked at the world from this view at the top was I able to appreciate the profoundness that to have a 'gift' truly means that you yourself have something to give to others and not the other way around. The Watchman’s words finally made sense and by-so-doing I finally found what I was looking for – My Purpose. 

As I returned to the Watchman – He looked at me with a smile and hugged me, he said “In order to keep the flame inside of you alive, you have to rekindle the dying flames of others – that way people don’t have to climb the mountain like you have – they can experience God right where they are. That? That is the meaning to your Life”.

The next morning, we began our descent down the mountain, we joyfully sang the same song all the way down. It was a hymn from the Watchman's Hymn book #116, which goes like:

“Ha le lakatsa ho tseba ka moo ke pholositsweng,

Mamelang ha ke le jwetsa, ke le supisa tsela.

Ee, kajeno ke fodile, ke ngoana wa Modimo.

Ke dumetse, ke thabile, ha kena pelaelo.

Jeso ke ‘Moloki wa ka…”

 This is just a leaf from my tree, An Encouragement to Look Up and See.