We all know walking through the
deepest of forests is a scary thing.
·
The trees are so thick.
·
Everything looks the same.
·
Though it may be a hot and sunny ‘high noon’ – in the forest, it is cold
and dark.
Yet you go in.
The darkness is oppressive – creeping
in on you further and further until you can almost breathe it. Uncertainty creeps along your limbs. You start to wonder if you are going the
right direction. A minute seed of fear
sprouts in the pit of your stomach. You stumble along a little further. You begin to wonder if you even know where
you are suppose to be going.
You find a path. It becomes easier. You can keep the fear at bay if you just keep
plodding along the path. You don’t know
where the path is going, but it must be somewhere important or there wouldn’t
be a path. So you keep going and going
and going and …
“I think I’ve seen that tree
before.” … and going and … going and …
“That rock looks really familiar…” and
... going …
Then a bright, brilliant ray of
sunshine peeks through the canopy – and you see that you are going in
circles. Not only that, but that others
have trod the path bare – packed with days, maybe even years of the same. You crumple to the ground, despair engulfing
every ounce of your being. “But I
thought I was going the right way – I thought I was doing the right thing.”
What is to be done? “Please, please, if I could just get some
help … please show me the way.”
Suddenly, the wind rustles through the
branches overhead. Sunshine streams down
through the foliage, and you spy a brake in the trees. You jump up and move to the light. Just as you reach it another beam shines
forth a little further on. With each
step towards the light, another appears.
You move forward, ever more impressed and ever more grateful.
Along the way, you see wonderful
things. You are lead to hurtles that
intimidate, but keeping your eye on the light – they aren’t as bad as you
thought. You experience things that you
would never have tried when you were on the other path. And when you finally – finally! – emerge from
the woods, you never dreamed such a destination was possible. You never dreamed that such wonderful things
could have happened to you. And you
never imagined that you could become the person that emerges – way back when
you found the Sunshine Along the Way.
This is the journey that I am on
now. I invite you to come along with
me. I promise you will never be the
same….
