Cyndi
02-06-2002, 11:41 AM
I wrote this right after I was accepted and Confirmed into the Catholic Church.
I was sitting near two paths, all alone, not sure which one to take. One was full of thorns, holes and pain. The other was straight and smooth, but very barren.
Footprints led across the harder path, towards the pain and sorrow. I grew curious, and followed those footprints to see where they went. They quickly led me to the first large hole. I tried to jump across, only to realize the hole was too big. I grabbed the side in desperation, frightened and feeling alone.
My grip started to slip and I began to scream. Just as I started to fall, a hand came out of nowhere and grabbed mine.
"I've got you, and I won't let you go." Came a Voice from above.
The hand pulled me up out of the hole. I looked around for the one who saved me, only to find the footprints still leading ahead.
As soon as I started to follow the footprints, walls began to rise in front of me. Big walls with broken glass and thorny vines covering them. One or two were easy to climb over, though it hurt. The others were so high and so jagged that I could feel blood flowing when I tried to climb them. When the pain grew too great, I fell back to the dirt and began to cry as my own blood formed a puddle around me.
Out of nowhere, a pair of gentle lips kissed my tears and pain away. Ladders were lowered from the tops of those impossibly high walls, and they suddenly didn't seem so bad anymore.
Still there before me, the footprints led towards a very violent storm. I followed them in, only to have stinging rain slap me in the face. A tornado was spawned, creating wind so strong it knocked me down, and I lost sight of the footprints. When I tried to find them, I got stuck in the mud and began to sink. The roar of the wind grew louder, so I looked up and saw the tornado heading straight at me!
"Help me!" I cried, lost and afraid.
Instantly heeding my distressed scream, strong arms lifted me out of the mud, wrapping completely around my shivering little form. The wind stopped, the rain parted and the tornado dissipated as I was carried me back to the path.
"Are those Your footprints?" I asked, now curious.
"No." He smiled at me with a suddenly human face. "I have always been here inside you, just as I'm inside the person who made these footprints."
I blinked, confused, "If those aren't your footprints, then who am I following?"
He patted my head and smiled patiently, "I asked someone to lead you here. These footprints are theirs." He pointed to the church standing near the end of the path. "See?"
I turned to look where he was pointing and saw the person I'd been following all this time. It was the person who first held me when I was born and witnessed everything I did in my life.
It was my mother.
I was sitting near two paths, all alone, not sure which one to take. One was full of thorns, holes and pain. The other was straight and smooth, but very barren.
Footprints led across the harder path, towards the pain and sorrow. I grew curious, and followed those footprints to see where they went. They quickly led me to the first large hole. I tried to jump across, only to realize the hole was too big. I grabbed the side in desperation, frightened and feeling alone.
My grip started to slip and I began to scream. Just as I started to fall, a hand came out of nowhere and grabbed mine.
"I've got you, and I won't let you go." Came a Voice from above.
The hand pulled me up out of the hole. I looked around for the one who saved me, only to find the footprints still leading ahead.
As soon as I started to follow the footprints, walls began to rise in front of me. Big walls with broken glass and thorny vines covering them. One or two were easy to climb over, though it hurt. The others were so high and so jagged that I could feel blood flowing when I tried to climb them. When the pain grew too great, I fell back to the dirt and began to cry as my own blood formed a puddle around me.
Out of nowhere, a pair of gentle lips kissed my tears and pain away. Ladders were lowered from the tops of those impossibly high walls, and they suddenly didn't seem so bad anymore.
Still there before me, the footprints led towards a very violent storm. I followed them in, only to have stinging rain slap me in the face. A tornado was spawned, creating wind so strong it knocked me down, and I lost sight of the footprints. When I tried to find them, I got stuck in the mud and began to sink. The roar of the wind grew louder, so I looked up and saw the tornado heading straight at me!
"Help me!" I cried, lost and afraid.
Instantly heeding my distressed scream, strong arms lifted me out of the mud, wrapping completely around my shivering little form. The wind stopped, the rain parted and the tornado dissipated as I was carried me back to the path.
"Are those Your footprints?" I asked, now curious.
"No." He smiled at me with a suddenly human face. "I have always been here inside you, just as I'm inside the person who made these footprints."
I blinked, confused, "If those aren't your footprints, then who am I following?"
He patted my head and smiled patiently, "I asked someone to lead you here. These footprints are theirs." He pointed to the church standing near the end of the path. "See?"
I turned to look where he was pointing and saw the person I'd been following all this time. It was the person who first held me when I was born and witnessed everything I did in my life.
It was my mother.