Help along the way? - part 1

Our journey - This walk through time on a path full of surprises. Some roads incredibly joyful while others painful, difficult. We look ahead and see that glow in the distance - our Home.

We step forward, surefooted and confident.

Around us, a beautiful meadow -  lush green grass rippling in the warm, summer breeze,
 flowers of all colors filling the fresh air with their perfume while bobbing their heads in time to the music of the birds flying overhead. Water flows nearby, skipping happily around and over smooth multicolored rocks. Clouds dance in the breeze,  the sky, a brilliant blue.
 Stopping to rest by the stream we reach up and pick a luscious, red apple from a hanging branch nearby and laugh as the juice runs down our chin with the first bite.

A call,
A sweet voice in the distance asks us to follow.

We rise and walk happily toward our Shepherd

 

Leaving the meadow, we round a corner to see a rock strewn road winding back and forth up the side of a hill. Off we go, following the footsteps in the dust. We walk for hours finding the path steeper, harder. We climb on and around boulders, duck under jagged pieces  of granite and slide on slopes of shale.

The wind turns cold and gusts push us back down the path. We teeter on the edge of sheer drop-offs. The fog rolls in. It's difficult to see. We are cold, hungry and exhausted. We grope along the wall of the mountain, our hands cut and bleeding from sharp edges. We fall to our knees, crawling, crying out for help, reaching out blindly in front of us.