The Lion and The Lamb Pt.4

The Lion and The Lamb Part 4

I stood there trembling in fear and anxiety, staring at this despaired sheep. Shaking in place waiting for my body to move, to run. A glow came up from behind me, my back felt a burning as if it was on fire. Turning around I felt the heat increase and intensify. Once I was looking into this raging flame, as my eyes laid upon this fire, something was strange about this fire, it was not consuming the foliage around it! The heat burned in my soul as if it was being purged of the darkness of the desire of those black berries to which was in my hand.

I had to turn away from the burning heat but in doing so caused me to lay my eyes back on myself. With the fire overcoming me, I did not see myself no more but the lamb! Only that instead of the pure white fleece, I saw blood soaked wool blotched on His feet, head, and side. The Lamb looked up at me in pain and spoke with all the might He had left, "run!" In shock of this horrid sight I dropped the berries from my hands.

I felt my feet go free from their chains and heaviness. I flew as if I was pursued by those dark creatures of the shadows. My feet acted as if they had wings on them as it seemed at that time. The hunger that dominated my thoughts just moments before was gone as my mind was occupied by what I just witnessed! How could the Lamb be there instead of me? What does this all mean? How. Could. I. Be. So. Stupid? As I contemplated these things my focus left my feet and what would be beneath them. The ground rose with the roots of the trees and my foot found a hole to which it brought me to a hard fall.

I didn't know where I landed, last of what I saw was the image of the Lamb bloodied and beaten. I curled up into a ball, soaking the dirt with my tears of grief, guilt, and shame. I cried as a small child repeating to myself several times over in guilt and shame, "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!"

I heard a voice, one like the Lamb but with a strong fatherly voice, "My child, why are you crying?"

"I didn't listen!" I struggled to push out the words from my crying, "I failed!"

"Get up," the voice said with a gentle comforting voice, "dry your tears, My child."

I opened my watery eyes and in my blurry vision I noticed that the top of the trees were less than they were before. So I took the hem of my shirt and wiped my eyes from my tear soaked face and eyes. As my eyes dried and my tears turned to dust on my cheeks, I started to see my surroundings clearly. My eyes saw the sky for first time for what seemed like hours. The sun brought warmth to my cheeks and I could hear the breeze in the trees that were around me. The comforting feeling and sounds of the environment caused me to close my tired eyes. There was a comfort to these things around me, a peace to which I longed for in that dark forest to which was behind me.

While I was enjoying that peace that passed all reason that I could think of, I opened my eyes to see I was in a clearing! I gazed in amazement, as I stood up from my laying place, to see green on the leaves again, brown bark on the trees, and birds happily chirping and singing in the trees around me. As my gaze turned to from the top of the clearing to my feet, I saw lush, soft, long green grass waving at my dirty feet. Flowers of red and purple spotted the floor of this part of the forest, this area was full of life. My gaze focused in onto the center of this clearing to see a circle of rocks with a small fire glowing next to a large tree.

Curiosity struck, as I felt this gentle push to go investigate this fire. As I came closer to the place of this small, mild fire, I gazed at the tree that was only a few feet from the fire next to it. This tree was different from the others around it, it seemed taller and more alive. Birds would flock to and fro from it, landing, feeding off of it, nesting in it. The fruit of the tree were ripe and looked as if they were ready to pluck. Suddenly my body remembered that it was hungry. My stomach growled with anticipation to be fed. I heard a voice behind me, one that was soft and gentle.

“Child…”

This voice I knew, it was the Lamb! I turned around to find Him, laying next to the fire and He seemed to be enjoying the warmth of it. My heart turned in my chest and felt the warmth of my tears running down my face. The Lamb looked as it did when I saw it in the fire. His coat was no longer stained but His skin was scared in the places to which the stains were once before. I could not hold back the thoughts of guilt that were running through my mind, but the Lamb looked at me with love. My heart was breaking from the pain to which I saw my mistake, but the Lamb had tears of joy in His eyes.

I fell on my knees opposite of the side of the fire to which the Lamb was laying. My body broke down in that moment, all I could do was cry. There was no way I could look into the eyes of this pure creature in front of me, I kept my eyes shut till I had no more tears to shed. All could do was silently mourn, but all there was, was silence. Once I had the will to open my eyes again, I saw the Lamb standing in front of me with eyes full of love. His fleece was a pure white, with gaps to which His scars displayed His agony. As He opened His mouth to speak, I felt the comforting warmth of the fire behind Him. This fire was different from what I saw, just what seemed moments ago.

It’s warmth was comforting, inviting, and loving. The fire waved back and forth mildly with sound of crackling wood. Something was similar about it to the the wildfire that I had just run from, it did not seem to consume the branches inside it’s circle of rocks and it never burnt out. The radiating light that came from it matched the glow that came from the pure white fleece of the Lamb. The sweet, soft, gentle voice of Lamb again came into my ear, “child, why are you crying?”

I looked past the Lamb, at the fire to see a loaf of bread and a fish laying on the rocks outlining the fire.