Once there were three little mountain goats.


They danced in the heights.


And leaped from peak to peak.


But they couldn’t help seeing all the animals around them.


The first little mountain goat saw a dolphin swimming in the waves and said, “I want to live in the sea.”


She hopped to the shore and was about to dive in when her mother came beside her and said, “Do not compare yourself to the dolphin. You’re home is not in the sea.”


The second little mountain goat saw a chimp swinging through the branches and said, “I want to live in a tree.”


He hopped to the forest floor and was about to climb when his mother came beside him and said, “Do not compare yourself to the chimp. You’re home is not in a tree.”


The third little mountain goat saw an eagle flying through the clouds and said, “I want to live in the sky.”


She hopped to the highest cliff and was about to leap off when her mother came beside her and said, “Do not compare yourself to the eagle. You’re home is not in the sky.”


The little mountain goats were sad because they could not swim like dolphins or swing like chimps or fly like eagles.


But their mother said, “When you are too busy comparing yourself to others, you cannot see everything that makes you special.”


She hopped onto a craggy cliff on the mountainside.


Then danced from rock to rock.


Then climbed and climbed and climbed.


Until she came to a place no other animal could reach. 


And the dolphin and the chimp and the eagle looked at the mountain goats’ mother, and they were amazed.


“That’s why our home is on the mountain,” said the mountain goats’ mother. “So we can live the special lives we were made to live.”


The three little mountain goats saw their mother hopping and dancing and climbing. And they hopped after her.


And danced.


And climbed.


And smiled.


And they saw that, whether they could swim or swing or fly, it didn’t matter. 


Because they were at home.


They were special.


And they hopped like only mountain goats can.

Posted by Griffin Paul Jackson

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