The Oasis

I'm still coughing up the sand that filled my lungs. The wind had been howling for what has been months. I had covered my eyes and mouth with wet material - an ineffective mask. It had been hell, walking through the sandstorm. It was necessary. I can now see the Oasis in the distance, although it's not one I recognize, I know it has fresh water - life giving water - because you have promised me it does.

I walk beside you, holding hands. I had thought I was doing this alone, but now the sand has disappeared, I realize the pull I felt forward, was the draft behind your footsteps. You had shown me the way.

I started thinking of how I have so many people to talk with, to tell of how I survived the storm. You would let me tell all the stories, of how I fell down, of how alone I felt and how I never thought I would survive it. Then you would remind me how it was all part of the plan, that the storm had to come to show me how strong I really am and to teach me that my eyes can deceive me. I thought I had seen an oasis.

It had been a mirage. I wonder how you knew to lead me there, to confirm it wasn't there after all? You are amazing! I cannot comprehend the knowledge, wisdom, power and - love - that you afford me to see you now. Seeking that mirage could have been my death. I could have waited near there forever, thinking it was so close and yet it wasn't ever there.

It was a strange feeling when I drew the strength to take the mask off my face and look to where the Oasis should have been. I saw nothing. I was desperate for it to be there and once I saw it wasn't with my own eyes, I grieved. Then a new feeling, stranger than the first, washed over me. I longed for a pure, eternal Oasis.

I knelt down and cried for myself and for what I had never had. Could I even take another step? In an instant, I felt renewed strength, not my own, and I stood defiantly, ready to continue on, trusting that this strength would feed my journey.

Suddenly, the wind stopped. You stood before me, as you had always done, but I had never known. You glanced back at me and smiled, your eyes glittering with delight. You turned, taking my hand to lead me, pointing with the other, showing me the way.

The oasis. It's there. I can see it. You are leading me into new life.

You told me You love me.
I love you too.