I was standing at the edge of a meadow, far from any others. The flowers of spring had opened their peddles to reveal their colors. The mountains in the distance were still showing their trace of the white winter snow. Through the meadow was cut a winding spring that lead into the trees near by to continue on to a distant creek. In the distance I could see the remains of a old cabin. As I approached it, I could see that it had seen it's fair share of seasons. The roof had caved in, and the walls were showing a serious lean. I looked into the door and noticed that this cabin still had remnants of it's past occupants, with bed springs and a table that seemed like it too had shown the ware of much age.
I entered this once occupied abode and looked through the remains of the past. A book, far to worn to be readable now, but still showing it's title of what past pages once held. A bottle, empty and obvious to once holding a alcohol that helped keep the nights warm and the memories weak. A few other things here and their and then something caught my eye in the corner. It was a journal of the person who once lived at this cabin. The pages were worn and the words were hard to see, but I could still read the words of this man who seemed to enjoy writing, only his last page was complete ...
"I started this life, and the beginning of this spring. I lived in this beautiful meadow through many seasons of peace. I could see in the distance all the mountains, but I never found the time to climb them or to even journey to there base. I set in this meadow each day and looked at the flowers and admired their beauty. I set in my cabin and drank and waited for the seasons to change. But never did I journey to places you have no doubt crossed to bring you to this journal, this final page of my life. Now as the days grow longer and the time grows shorter, I find I wish I had more time and more strength to make those journeys I never knew. Life though soon fades and soon leaves us alone. I began this life here, and here is where I stayed. At the beginning of a spring, never seeing where it leads."
... The journal then faded and I could not see the end. It seemed as if something important was written that I needed to know. Did this man, this past ghost of this realm ever follow this spring, did he live his life to the full in his final days? Did he follow his dreams?
I went back out of the cabin and into the meadow, and looked around some more. Something seemed different. The meadow no longer looked like a place of peace and joy, but perhaps one man's prison, one man's lost dreams. A place that seemed so lovely to some, yet so confining to another. I looked down at the spring, and touched the water. I saw that it flowed away into the trees and out of sight in the distance to a creek, then to rivers, then to oceans far away. I then set down the journal, back in it place. I stepped along the spring, and followed it through the meadow, I followed it into the trees. I followed it away, and realized that it lead to my dreams.....
So manytimes in the Kingdom Hall-life I think we thought we were in that beautiful meadow with things being so perfect and so wonderful, that we saw no reason to leave. Our view of the world seemed like enough, seeing it in the distance, yet never taking the time to actually go see it for ourselves. Why go to college, why fulfill all those dreams of your youth, why take the time to go to all the places we wanted to see. No we set in that meadow and at the beginning of that spring of life and never followed it to see where it lead. We saw people who spent twenty, fifty years or more at that beginning, and learned from their mistakes. Read there "lost hopes" and "dreams" in the looks on their faces, that were better then any words of any journal.
To me that spring that I followed was the spring that lead to a real life, a life that was hidden from me through the thickness of the trees, with lies and half-truths about where my life could be. Like a water flowing to the sea, though, you may block it and try to send it somewhere you want to control. Yet in the end, if you follow the water it will lead to the shores and beaches down below.
So as I now sit on the beach in life, and enjoy the waves of happiness that crash on my shore. I open a Corona, with a slice of lime and smile that my life finally decided to find where the spring lead, and sit content on these shores. I hope all of you have made it to the sea of truth and happiness as well, but if one read this and has not. Just remember there is a Corona in the color waiting for you. You only need to make sure to take the worthwhile walk!
My thought
Dragon
"One hell of a great beach party going on in here ... anyone want to have one of my beers?"
Edited by - kenpodragon on 19 October 2002 3:41:47