Imagine this, you are standing at the foot of a ladder that is the pathway to achieving a goal you have set for yourself. As you look up toward the top of the ladder, you are dismayed to find out that you cannot see the end, except to know what it is that you
want to accomplish.
You look around you so that you'll remember this place where you were before your life began to change as you decided to climb after this goal. You notice that you are surrounded on all sides by mountains that appear tall and unyielding, and you think to yourself, "Am I crazy?" You decide it doesn't matter and you take one more look around, take a deep breath, and take hold of the ladder.
With a sigh and a small prayer you begin to climb. You feel so good about yourself that you take the ladder 2 or 3 rungs at a time. You are full of excitement and great expectations. You look around and all ready the mountains look smaller and not quite so threatening.
Then, all of the sudden, a wind blows and catches you right as you jump up 3 rungs and it knocks you down a couple rungs. You shake your head and catch your breath and look around you, wondering what happened. You notice that the mountains are taller than they were when you last looked and you wonder why because you only went down 2 rungs.
Now, some of your enthusiasm is gone. You wonder if you have really gained anything by coming even this far. However, you take another breath and look around. The mountains were taller and you wonder if they don't just grow whenever you just stand there. You begin to climb again.
This time, you move slower, not wanting that wind to catch you unawares again. You are taking each rung one at a time and feel pretty good about your progress after a few minutes. You also notice though, that you tire easily and that it would be so easy to just stop climbing for a minute and take a breather. You do.
As you stand there relaxing, you look around at the mountains and are pleased at your relation to them. They don't look nearly so tall anymore. You close your eyes and relax, but just for a minute. When you open your eyes, you notice that the mountains are much taller than they were before you closed your eyes. You take another deep breath, look up, find that even after you have climbed, you still can't see the end of the ladder, and you... begin to climb.
You climb and climb. When you look around, you notice that the mountains are appreciably shorter. You climb a little more, look around, and see that everything looks the same. You think that you're fooling yourself, so you keep climbing, thinking nothing of it. When you look again and still think things are the same, you decided to notice a few peculiarities so that you can be sure.
After you have climbed for a long time, forcing yourself not to look around. You finally give in and take a peek at what is around you. Nothing has changed and yet, you have climbed so far.
Your shoulders sink and you think you should just give up. You notice that a seat has appeared, it is attached to a rung down the ladder about 4 rungs. Sighing dejectedly, you move down and sit on it.
After a minute, you think to yourself that you might as well keep climbing. You notice that the mountains have grown a little during the time you sat there, although you only went down 4 rungs. You are almost upset by the difference one rung below you or one minute standing still makes, but you decide to keep on climbing, for you are gaining nothing by just sitting.
On you go, one rung at a time. You wonder to yourself about why you keep going on when it appears that you really don't gain anything from it. You still get tired and the mountains go by so slowly, where at first they had gone by so quickly.
All the sudden, you come to a platform. As you stand upon it, you notice that there is a ladder that goes up and you think to yourself, "No way." Then, you notice a sign that says, "Shuttle, going down," with an arrow that points back the way you have already come.
You take a quick look around and are surprised to see yourself even with the tops of the mountains, and you are only more confused. Nothing had changed until all the sudden there you were. On an impulse, you move carefully to the edge of the platform and look down... and down... and down. You cannot see the end of the ladder, it disappears long before the bottom where you stood when you first looked up.
You are frightened by being so high up on a ladder and a platform that is not supported in any way that you can see. Then, you look up.
You see a man holding the ladder. There is nothing to support him, but when he meets your eyes, you know that nothing is needed, nor do you need any more support than what he gives. In his eyes there is love, wisdom, and an infinite strength you wish to have one day as your own.
You look around you again: the ladder goes up towards the man, or the shuttle going down, where you had already been. You look and see a new set of mountains rising taller than the first but not so foreboding. You smile and take hold of the ladder and begin to climb, going up... and up... and up...
