Mannlichen, Switzerland: How I Learned to Embrace the Path

Still feeling the rush of happiness from the previous day spent on Lake Brienz, we hopped in our rented Fiat and set out to explore the unknown passages up the mountains around Wilderswil. We pushed our little car to its limits, dodging cattle and the oncoming cars on the twisting single lanes that ribbon the sides of the Swiss Alps. We were happy and open to what we would discover, my husband, daughter, and I.

One cannot help but feel pure glee when surrounded by snowcapped mountains against an azure sky. The day was bound to be exceptional. After reaching the end of our mountain road, we headed to Männlichen at the urging of a friend. The mountain towers 7,600 feet above Grindelwald, a town located in the Jungfrau region of Switzerland. While certainly not the highest elevation in Switzerland, it would be enough for this suburban family. Snug in our gondola, above the green treetops, and welcomed by the stone soldiers touching the sky, we ascended to what would eventually be a sacred space for me. We explored the mountain, the sun shining on our backs. Though it was July, patches of snow still lay around us.

My daughter and husband hurled snowballs at each other, an activity that we don’t often enjoy in Texas. We looked at the maps of the mountains surrounding us and tried to pronounce their names, and we stood at the edge and looked at the small town nestled in the valley beneath us. How glorious it must be to live amongst the natural beauty of Switzerland. When one feels like she is at the top of the world, it’s difficult not to feel the pull of a force much bigger than she. Surrounded by alpine flowers dressed in purple and yellow and red and orange and delicate verdant grasses, you cannot help but feel that this is an earthly altar to God or the universe or to the Divine. (Take your pick; I’m not offended.)

All around me, in 360 degrees, the handiwork of something much bigger than I displayed itself. The wonder of the majestic mountains, their gray and purple vestments and pure white coverings, evoked an awe in me that no church had ever. If I could have hugged the landscape, I would have. The immensity of emotion overtook me. And then it hit me…I am small. I am powerful. I learned on that mountaintop that we are all small, but we are all powerful in our own ways. We are gifted with unique talents, unique experiences, and unique perspectives. We are all born with purpose. Yet, just as it took a lifetime of heat and pressure to forge the immense towers of rock displayed in my panoramic view, our lives, too, are forged by the heat and pressure of the paths we walk. I learned on that mountain trail that in order to find our strength and power, we too must go through our own process of growth.

That single moment of standing and drinking in the extremes of terrain revealed an insight that we humans far too often ignore or never find. In the fifteen months since that trip, I have had to draw on the wisdom revealed to me that day. Little did I know that a few months after that journey, my life would change in a painful, yet profound, way. Little did I know that I would have to draw upon the metaphor of heat and pressure building a strong and powerful mountain. In the year that followed, I have come to understand that my journey to Switzerland would provide an extended metaphor for my life.

The ending of one road, the shaky and rocky path, the pressure, the pushing to the limit, the sometimes painful walk…a metaphor for growing into something much stronger, more mighty. I look at my pictures from that day and draw upon the lessons I learned. I look to my memories and draw inspiration and strength. The photos of the Alps are my constant reminder that we are all a work in progress. There is a parallel between the journey of a trip in a new land and life itself. It’s not lost on me. I am grateful for that day on top of Mänlichen and for the difficult terrain of the past year. In my own way, I, too, am growing into a mighty mountain.

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