Atop the Holy Mountain (Sunday, March 24, 2013)

Atop the Holy Mountain

It was supposed to be lonely at the top of the great hill,
no one else around, only me,
sitting alone at the top of my isolated pinnacle.
But when I got there after this long, arduous trek,
I found not some narrow painful desolate peak
but an awesome wide plateau, level and expansive,
crowded with scores and hundreds,
maybe thousands, of other living souls.

There’s plenty of room at the top of God’s Mountain
for everyone who wants to find a place there
(and someday, we hope and pray,
it may be all of us).
But even now, in these days before dawn
there are plenty of souls to keep us company,
and share ideas and thoughts,
and celebrate the time we share together
in this most amazing place.

And from that magnificent perspective, we all look out
over the vast expanse below and all around:
the breathtaking vistas of a world well-tended,
of a world more glorious than words can tell,
of a world that reflects back the Spirit’s beneficence, truth, and beauty.
While all share together the splendid lookout at the top
(for all have earned it by their climbing)
each one knows that the particular view ones sees
is one-of-a-kind, never-to-be-repeated,
unique in all the world.

So, we strive to make it to the top of God’s  mountain,
each climbing carefully by our own pathway,
not to be alone after all, but to join with others;
the important thing when up there
is to know not simply our own perspective on the glory
but to feel the warmth, sense the breathing,
and hear the rapturous gasping of all of those
with whom we share this planetary garden.

jbs
12/19/98       3/3/02       3/24/13

The steps we take

 Each step is a story; 

each moment a symbol,
deeper lessons learning;
not to be catalogued,

but lived to the full;
not endlessly analyzed,

but allowed to dance
deep within our souls.

We meet and greet others
as they pass with artful delicacy;

it is a lovely dance of elegance and beauty
we do, when we cherish the other living spirits
with whom we share this sacred path.
Now back to back, now face to face,
smiling, greeting, a soft touch in passing, perhaps:
We are alone and strong and free,
but interdependent, too;

joined with every other pilgrim
with whom we share this holy ground.

Knowing this, we become at last like spirits,
blissful sparks of hope and love made real;
our hurt and pain diffused in the holy ether,
no less real, but held now in stronger hands than ours.
Our joy now cosmic, our song divine;
as we approach the center, together,
free at last to the lessons
that our lives’ stories will gladly learn and teach.

jbs
3/19/02        11/30/03        10/19/08       3/3/13