Revision

Four days before I had Annabelle by C-section, Jan R. sent me a story titled, “Never Alone.” It’s a reassuring parable, that I found very comforting when I was lying on the table in the operating room. As Andy stood beside me holding my left hand, I imagined God holding my right.

Things are bad right now for several of my friends. I think this fable could be of some comfort. *hugs* to all my friends and family.

Never Alone
Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth’s rite of passage? His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him alone. He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot cry out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night, he is a man.

He cannot tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into manhood on his own.The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beasts must surely be all around him. Maybe even some human might do him harm. The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way he could become a man.

Finally, after a horrific night the sun appeared and he removed his blindfold. It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the stump next to him. He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.

We, too, are never alone. Even when we do not know it, our Heavenly Father is watching over us, siting on the stump beside us. All we have to do is reach out to Him.

— Unknown