THE FIFTH MOUNTAIN

The trials of Elijah turn into a beautiful inspiring story, What is unknown to us, what he have gone thru, the pain, the struggles.. ... it is thru him we may catch a glim of our own shadow in him... I cried from the beginning of the story to the end.
Never have I found so much answers to my struggles at once.

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OF THE VIEW OF THE WORLD - SIMPLE COMPLEXITY?
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He felt he was drawing near. The rivulet was flowing at his side, a few crows were circling in the sky, the plants clinging insitently to life in the sandy, sterile terrain. Had they listened to the words of their forebears, what would they have heard?

"Rivulet, seek a better place for your limpid waters to reflect the brightness of the sun, for the desert will one day dry you up," the god of waters would have said, if perchance one existed. "crows, there is more food in the forests than among rocks and sand," the god of birds would have said. "Plants, spread your seeds far from here, because the world is full of humid, fertile ground, and you will grow more beautiful," the god of flowers would have said.

But the Cherith, like plants and the crows, one of which had perched nearby, had the courage to do what other rivers, or birds, or flowers thought impossible.

Elijah fixed his gaze on the crow.

"i'm learning, " he told the bird. "Though the lesson is a futile one, for I am condemned to death."

"You have discovered how everything is simple," the crow seemed to reply. "Having courage is enough."



OF WORK / SERVING OTHERS
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While Elijah was doing as she asked, he heard her say that her work was a way of expressing the presence of God.

"From the way you make the trays, I can see that you have the same feeling," she had continued. "beacuse you smile as you work."

The woman divided human beings into 2 groups: those who took joy in, and those who complained about, what they did.

"Yes, I remember the woman. SHe was right; I did enjoy my work in the carpentry shop. She taught me to talk to things."

"If you had not worked as a carpenter, you would not have been able to place your sould outside yourself, to pretend that it is a crow talking, and to understand that you are better and wiser than you believe," came the reply. "Because it was in the carpentry shop that you discovered the sacred that is in all things."

"I always took pleasure in pretending to talk to the tables and chairs I built; wasn't that enough? And when I spoke to them, I usually found thoughts that had never entered my head. The woman had told me that it was because I had put the greater part of my soul into the work, and it was this part that answered me.




OF HOW LIMITED I FEEL
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"It was part of your apprenticeship. WHen a man journeys toward his destiny, often he is obliged to change paths. At other times, the forces around him are too powerful and he is compelled to lay aside his courage and yield. All this is part of the apprenticeship."

Elijah listened attentively to what his soul was saying.
"But no one can lose sight of what he desires. Even if there are moments when he believes the world and the others are stronger. The secret is this: do not surrender."




OF DOUBTS
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"I have seen you at other times, and have obeyed the angel of the Lord," replied Elijah, without raising his head. "And yet I have done nothing but sow misfortune wherever I go."
But the angel contnied:
"When thou returnest to the city, ask three times for the boy to come back to life. The third time, the Lord will hearken unto thee."

"Why am I to do this?"

"For the grandeur of God."

"Even if it comes to pass, I have doubted myself. I am no longer worthy of my task," answered Elijah.

"Every man hath the right to doubt his task, and to forsake it from time to time; but what he must not do is forget it. Whoever doubteth not himself is unworthy - for in his unquestioning belief in his ability, he commiteth the sin of pride. Blessed are they who go through moments of indecision."





OF DIRECTION AND FEELING OF LOST
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But there Elijah stood, carrying out what had been demanded of him, bearing within him the weight of the war to come, the massacre of the prophets by Jezebel, the death by stoning of the Assyrian general, his fear of loving a wman of Akbar. The Lord had given him a gift, and he did not know what to do with it.

in teh middle of the valley, a light appeared. It was not his guardian angel, the one he heard but seldom saw. It was an angel of the Lord, come to console him.

"I can do nothing further here," said Elijah. "When will I returen to Israel?"

"When thou learnest to rebuild," answered the angel. "But remember that which God taught Moses before a battle. Make use of every moment so that later thou wilt not regret, nor lament having lost thy youth. To every age in the life of a man, the Lord bestoweth upon him its own misgivings."





OF LOVE
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"I have so wished for love in my life," he thought. And yet, now that it was before him - and beyond doubt it was there; all he had to do was not run away from it - his sole thought was to forget it as quickly as possible.

His mind returned to the day he came to Akbar, after his exile on the Cherith. He was so weary and thirsty that he could remember nothing except the moment he recovered from fainting, and seeing her drip water onto his lips. His face was very close to hers, closer than he had evr been to any woman in his entire life. He had noticed that she had Jezebel's greem eyes, but with a different glow, as if they could reflect the cedar trees, the ocean of which he had often dreamed but never known, and --- how could it be? -- her very soul.

"I should so like to tell her that," he thought. "But I don't know how. It's easier to speak of the love of God."


Elijah stared at the wall of his room for a long time. Finally, he decided to invoke his angel.

"My soul is in danger," he said.

The angel said nothing. Elijah was in doubt about continuing the conversation, but now it was too late: he could not call him forth for no reason.

"When I'm with that woman, I don't feel good."

"Just the opposite," answered the angel. "And that disturbs thee, because thou canst come to love her."

Elijah felt shame, for the angel knew his soul.

"Love is dangerous," he said.

"Very," replied the angel. "And so?"


"I am waging combat in vain," he thought. "Love will win this battle, and I will love her all of my days. Lord, send me back to Israel so hat I may never have o tell this woman what i feel. Because she does not love me and will say to me that her heart lies buried alongside the body of her heroic husband."



OF DECISION
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Why must I choose between saving this city and redeeming my people?

"Beacuse a man must choose," answered the angel. "Therein lieth his strength: the power of his decisions."

"Even more difficult is defining a path for oneself. He who maketh no choice is dead in the eyes of the Lord, though he go on breathing and walking in the streets."

"Moreover," the angel continued, "no one dieth. The arms of eternity open for every soul, and each one will carry on his task. There is a reason for everything under the sun."




OF PAIN AND SUFFERING
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"My people fell away from the Lord because of a woman's beauty. Phoenicia may be destroyed because a priest thinks that writing is a threat to gods. WHy does He who made the world prefer to use tragedy to write the book of fate?"

Elijah's cries echoed through the valley to return to his ears.

"Thou knowest not whereof thou speakest," the angel replied. "There is no tragedy, only the unavoidable. Everything hath its reason for being: thou needest only distinguish what is temporary from what is lasting."

"What is temporary?" asked Elijah.

The unavoidable."

"And what is lasting?"

"The lessons of the unavoidable."