A Great Story

[sugarssweetpea]

> Do you know the legend of the Cherokee Indian youth's rite of passage?
> His father takes him into the forest, blindfolds him and leaves him
> alone.
>
> He is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the
> blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it. He cannot
> cry out
> for help to anyone. Once he survives the night, he is a MAN. He cannot
> tell the other boys of this experience, because each lad must come into
> manhood on his own.
>
> The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises.
> Wild beasts must surely be all around him. Maybe even some human might
> do him harm. The wind blew the grass and earth, and shook his stump, but
> he sat stoically, never removing the blindfold. It would be the only way
> he could become a man!
>
> Finally, after a horrific night the sun appeared and he removed his
> blindfold. It was then that he discovered his father sitting on the
> stump next to him. He had been at watch the entire night, protecting
> his son from harm.
>
> We, too, are never alone. Even when we don't know it, our Father is
> watching over us, sitting on the stump beside us. When trouble comes all
> we have to do is reach out to Him.
>
> If you liked this story, pass it on. If not, you took off your blindfold
> before dawn...