i, hiker

the mountains above me look so tempting... their sundrenched heights and crystalline edges, their thick blankets of green and birds that dwell in their updrafts. i stare from the cold muted gray of the valleys inbetween. it seems just yesterday i was standing on hills around and now i find me here in the lowlands i know all too well. the mountain ahead of me is still miles from me and i'm hiking towards it as i fight the temptation to collapse and give up. i've been walking this terrain for years now. one moment rejoicing in my conquest of a peak and drinking in the view and the next stumbling down into the shadowed trenches. in all this it is very easy to feel alone and without direction. but i know i am far from alone. why? because no matter where i find myself on this journey, God's still small voice is my compass. He guides me from valley to mountain and from mountain to valley. it may not seem like the best route or it may seem like i'm going the wrong direction- yet a good hiker learns to trust his compass and follow it. and so i listen and follow, for God knows where i must go and He sees the end of my journey and will willingly show me where it is... as long as i listen.