“The Man in the Mirror”
“Knock Knock (Sing the Heroes)”
“A Poem to Myself as a Child”
“Chevalier Errant”
“The Mountain and the Storm”
“Know They Are With You”
“Light Warrior”
“A Lion Still Has Claws”
“You Have No Limits”
“Be Their Strength”
by Clint Allsup
“Verse 81 of the Tao Te Ching”
by Lao Tzu
“Levels of Being: VI. The Shaper”
“Invictus Rex”
“The Worm and the Lion”
“Swords to Plowshares”
“Fury”
“Become Everything”
“Verse 82 of The Way of Light”
“I Am, So I Can”
“No One”
“The Roots of the Trees”
“Your Bones”
“Lux Aeterna”
“Ho, Everyone that Thirsteth”
by A. E. Housman
“Lux Aeterna: Invictus Rex – Ad Infinitum”
from the Trial of Job by Clint Allsup
“The Storm King”
For 12 years I have hiked up the same mountain when I want to talk to God. It is not the only time I talk to God, everyday I wake up and ask “What do you want me to do, God? Tell me and I will do it.” Most of the time I do not get a clear directive so I must use my mind and my intuition to figure it out.
I also know that there is nothing special about Storm King Mountain. At least, I do not have to go there to truly communicate with God. However I like the walk and it seems like a very good place to go when I want guidance from the King.
So yesterday I walked up the mountain as I have 1,000 times before. Alone, as is best for me when I need to seek His guidance. I have walked that mountain alone in the snow, where I was the only living thing that I could see for the entire walk. I love the cold and I love seeing that my tracks alone are the only disturbance that I can find on the mountain. I also love to walk in the summer and sweat for hours while I slowly make my way up the hill and find other trails. Or, occasionally, just go off trail.
God didn’t tell me anything on the mountain yesterday, but I knew it was the right thing to do and I felt reborn when I came home and relaxed. This was certainly the start of an important new mission. I just didn’t know what it was yet. I fell asleep feeling more relaxed and at peace than I have for as long as I can remember.
God only speaks when He wants to, of course. It used to be that I thought He would never speak to me at all. But once I began to use my life to do His Will and I humbled myself and discarded my preconceived notions and began to listen, He would, on the rarest of occasions, speak to me. I could never be dissapointed if He didn’t choose to speak to me. I must be patient and listen, and when the time is right, He will do it if He deems it should be done.
I awoke at night suddenly for no reason I could find. I was startled and I instantly asked God, “What should I do, Father? You didn’t tell me on the hill but anything you tell me to do I will do. Please tell me what I should do.”
“Be strong.”
This was not the Earth shaking tone I have felt once before. This was His voice but it was calm and infinitely powerful without needing to shake the world. The words were simple. A command for me to be what He wishes, guidance on what actions to take and a new lifestyle for me to work on in thought and in action every day. How brilliant in its message and its simplicity.
I wrote this poem to remind myself and anyone who may need it of why, sometimes, we suffer. I hope it helps someone else some day and I hope I never know it did.
And yes, Father,
thank you.
I will be.
“The Lesson of the Storm”
