The Road
There is a dirt road out back of my home, it has been run over by feet, hooves, car tires, bulldozers, etc, for thousands of years. I am told, at the end of this road there are untold riches. I began walking down the road one day looking ahead for the promised riches. After many years of looking ahead I looked down for some reason and I see a speck of gold, I look closer and see other specks. I bend down and try to dig but the road is like concrete with all the layers of dirt packed year after year. I know there are bigger nuggets if I could just dig deeper, I want to dig deeper but all I've got is the hands God has given me and they're not working, at least not as fast I would like. People pass buy telling me I'm crazy, get up and get to walking there is riches up ahead, if I don't make it in time I'll be lost. I consider their words and think.....all I'm doing is getting dirty and more cynical that there even is more gold down here.
So here I am dirty, tired, cynical and ready to give up and then God looks down and says to me: "Son, I am proud of you, instead of looking at what the world says is just ahead, you looked down and saw the riches around you. I know you want it all right now, but you have to work hard for it because there have been many years of people passing by and the ground is hard. Take this cup of water (spirit) and pour it over your hands and wash away the filth". I do this, my hands become clean, then I look down again....I look at God with joy in my eyes. I see what he sees, that the water ran off my hands and onto the ground, wetting it. I reach down and find I can dig a little easier and deeper and see more gold. I dig with joy until the ground gets hard and dry again. God gives me another cup of water and says "here wash yourself again"
I continue again and again with joy and get more and more nuggets of gold but I discover even more......the whole road is paved in gold. God says, "congratulations my child, you have discovered...the beginning". But, I say "Lord no matter how many cups of water you give me and how much I dig, I will never uncover this road of gold" God smiles and says "Son that is not for you to do in this lifetime, look around at the holes and the ditches you've created and be assured that there are others up and down the road who have done the same. Look at the nuggets you hold, you have more than enough riches for this life. In the next life I will pour the entire waters of my spirit down this road and because of the work you and others have accomplished it will get into the cracks and holes and ditches you've helped create and wash this road clean"
I cry with so much joy I can hardly control myself. God says "Then you will see the true prize! You will meet my son Jesus, he will walk down the Golden road with you, showing you all my truths." I replied "Lord, this is wonderful!" God says, with a smile "but there's more, at the end of this road you will see the others who have gone before, who rushed toward the end and missed out on your joy, and the truths; and also the ones who fell by the wayside. Jesus and you will take them by the hand and lead them back up the road....and back to Me."
Blessings
Craig