The mountain and the cloud were friends.
They admired each other’s qualities.
The cloud admired the mountain’s grandeur, peace, and beauty– a rock-solid, comfortable place to call home.
And the mountain enjoyed the cloud’s ability to provide rain to his slopes– enthralled by the power of thunder.
But after a while, familiarity led to complacency.
The mountain didn’t like being confined to one place, unable to escape the enveloping choke of the clouds, unable to see to yonder lands.
The cloud realized, for all its supposed power, it was as wispy as the wind– no substance, weak, unloved, and unnoticed.
So to get attention, the cloud summoned all its energy to create a storm.
Perhaps a display of force would impress the mountain and rekindle what once was– to replace complacency with excitement.
On and on the storm tried with all its might– generating hurricane force, knocking down trees on the mountain, gray clouds turning to black.
But the mountain stood silently– not a reaction.
It knew it could wait out any storm, no matter how powerful.
The mountain had learned long ago to retreat inside when trouble brewed outside- deep into a place of safety.
The storm raged a few days longer, but it was futile.
No amount of force could change the mountain’s iron will.
And 3 days later, the sun came out, since the clouds were gone.
