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The „Carpet” of Mud

Last night I couldn’t sleep. The story of a little girl came to my mind. A girl no older than 7 or 8, with chestnut hair and large brown eyes, frightened and sad at the same time. Poorly dressed, with mud on her face and hands. She lived in a wooden cabin so small she could touch the ceiling with her hand, and through its cracks, one could see the cloudy and rainy sky of late autumn. If she opened the door, all she could see around her were bare and gloomy trees, and on the ground, a „carpet” of mud.

What could have happened to this little girl? How did she end up here? To be honest, tonight I didn’t have enough time, nor a great enough curiosity, to read the story from the very beginning. That would mean going all the way back to Adam and Eve. It’s too much. Father I. used to tell me that we must focus on the essential, so I tried to extract the essence of this story.

The Mountain „I Am Who I Am”

At one point, I see the girl on the edge of a precipice. On one side, „Lucifer’s Chasm,” for that was its name. Someone said that there lies the abyss of pride, selfishness, and self-love. There is no point in describing it; everyone can know it by analyzing their own abyss. On the other side, a tall mountain whose peak was hidden by dense clouds. It was called the mountain „I Am Who I Am.” The girl did not understand this, but she had a vague intuition that she would find something better there than what her life had been until then.

It is not known how many days and nights she climbed that mountain, how many bruises, scratches, and wounds she sustained from the steep rocks, or on how many paths she got lost through wind and rain. What is known is that, at one point, her heart felt like lead. She lay down on the carpet of cold, damp leaves and refused to get up again, even though she had a vague intuition that she could have gone just a little further.

Not long after, she fell into a deep, dreamless sleep, like when you know you are in a tunnel of complete darkness—a dense darkness—and you watch helplessly as someone steals your hope. As if in a dream, she felt herself at one point being lifted from the cold, damp carpet, and something very strong was gripping her waist. Her heavy eyelids barely opened, and she saw that she was a prisoner in the talons of an eagle rising higher and higher toward the sky. Once again, she felt that someone was stealing her hope, and she retreated back into a heavy sleep.

The Palace Adventure

It is not known how long that journey lasted. What is known, however, is that at one point she woke up and saw a palace rising before her. It did not seem like the palaces from her stories—it wasn’t that tall, nor did it have an elegant architecture; instead, it was a dull grey color. Nevertheless, curiosity drove her; she opened the palace door and went inside. Suddenly, a powerful light struck her. She managed to open her eyes and saw large, wide windows through which the sun entered generously. That light made the golden walls and crystal chandeliers shimmer. Yet, that bright room, flooded with sunshine, was empty. „Did I fight to get here for nothing? Is there really no one in this palace?” Looking around, she eventually saw a narrow door that could be reached by climbing many steps.

She climbed the steps anyway, reached the door, and opened it; before her lay another set of steps that spiraled up toward the palace tower, and they were very narrow. On the wall was a sign showing an arrow pointing up, which read „Hope.” She began to climb the steps. 10, 20, 30, 100… The wounds on her feet deepened, and the pain became unbearable. She stopped with a certain intuition that it wasn’t much further to the top. Out of curiosity, she looked back to see how far she had climbed and noticed, to her surprise, a plaque that no longer showed an arrow pointing up, but down, and it no longer read „Hope,” but „Doubt.” Suddenly, she lost her balance and tumbled down. 10, 20, 30, 100 steps…

The Silk Dress

It is not known how long she lay there. What is certain is that she woke up at some point in the same hall she had started from, at the palace entrance. This time, however, the hall was full of people making an incredible, joyful noise. She couldn’t believe it. People?! And joyful, at that?! She saw a small chair, just her size, in the corner of the room and headed there to sit down, apparently unnoticed by anyone.

She sat on the chair, fearful and cautious, while admiring the noisy and cheerful crowd. Suddenly, the door to the spiral staircase opened, and a middle-aged man appeared. He descended the stairs quickly, looked at her suspiciously, and headed straight toward her. He reached her and asked: „Who are you? How did you enter my palace so dirty?” The girl opened her large eyes, which filled with fear, and did not dare to say a word. The man turned furiously toward the servants and shouted: „Submerge her in water! But not in a river, in an ocean! She is very dirty! Then, give her a silk dress woven by seraphim! All children in the Palace are clean! Filth stays at the door! Come on! What are you waiting for?”

It is not known what process the girl went through, but the point is that she appeared in the hall before the middle-aged man, transformed. „Now, you will sit next to me at the table,” the man told the girl. „Well, what do you think? How does it seem to you now?” he asked her. „Why are you silent? This is a banquet, everyone is having fun! Do you have nothing to say?” „Yes, I do,” the girl said. „I want to go back home.” Suddenly, a heavy silence fell over the hall. „What?!” the man asked, indignant. „I took you out of the mud and brought you into a palace hall, and you want to go back home?! For My Name’s sake! Why?” Fearfully, the girl told him: „Because I want to bring my parents and my siblings here too.”

„Incredible!” the man shouted in indignation. „Very well! If that is what you want! The door is there! You may leave!” The girl stood up slowly and started with unsteady steps toward the exit. She was convinced she would be covered in wounds again while descending the mountain and that she would reach the forest where she had left her parents and siblings with great difficulty, or perhaps never. Yet, the last shred of hope gave her strength.

The Wings of Freedom

She opens the door, steps out, and before her appears a woman of unseen beauty, clothed with the sun and with the moon under her feet. The woman leans toward her and asks: „Where are you going?”. „I am going to bring my parents and my siblings here.” The light on the woman’s face begins to take shape and transforms into a wide smile, so warm that it melts the ice of doubt and fear in the girl’s heart. Then the Woman says to her: „If you set out on your journey, do not forget: with hope, you travel on eagle’s wings; with faith, you reach your destination; and with love, you return in safety.”

It is not known what happened to the girl. Is she on her way to the forest or back to the Palace? It is not known. What is certain, amazing, and strange is that through the darkness she found a way of communication with her Father. This way of communication has always existed and exists for everyone. Praise be to the Lord!