a great analogy

A friend sent this story in an email today. It really resonated with me and I wanted to share it with you...

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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 w! hole ni ght 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 don't know it, our Heavenly Father is watching over us, sitting on the stump beside us. When trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him.

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Isn't that a cool analogy? And a good reminder - God, our Father-Mother is always right at hand no matter what is going on, no matter where we are. It is only that blindfold that prevented the boy from seeing his father right next to him during the night, and probably the fear he is feeling from all those creepy noises and the uncertainty that otherwise makes him unable to detect his father's presence. How often it is like that in our own lives! Get so caught up in the situation, the fear, the drama that we don't realize help is right there.

But once that light comes, the blindfold is off and the truth is revealed, the father is right there - Love is right there caring for His child. Always.