The path was daunting. The road looked rough. The rocks in the way were boulders. The forest grew thick with dense vegetation. The child looked at it with determination. Excitement danced in her clear blue eyes. It all spelled adventure to her. She looked at the tools given to her by Him. A helmet, placed firmly on her head. A belt made of the finest leather to hold up her roughly sewn leather pants that fit perfectly and moved with her. A breastplate made of the toughest bronze that nothing could pierce. A sword glittered at her side, hanging from her belt. She pulled it out just to gaze at it. Sharpened just that morning, moments before, she could see the smooth edges glinting in the bright sunlight. Her feet wore the finest shoes ever made, fitted and perfect for hiking through this vast wilderness. She nodded and smiled at her companion, giggling when he nodded, smiled and winked back at her with a bow and a gracious hand extended towards her. She curtsied back to him in exaggerated style, gladly placing her small white hand in His massive strong one.
“This is not a small task I have given you child,” He said as they began.
“I know, my King. I am honoured to be chosen.”
“I will never leave you child. I am here all the way. Even when you cannot see me, feel me, or hear me, know that I am here.”
“Oh yes, my King,” came the excited reply. The words echoed through her mind almost absently. She thought nothing would ever stop her love for Him, nor her being able to hear Him and know He was there with her.
He grinned down at her. Her tiny figure beside His large one was almost comical. “Come. I will lead you child,” He said with an amazing energy, yet His voice so gentle in her ears was like a beautiful song cascading through her mind.
Excitedly she stepped with Him, keeping pace only because He slowed down for her. Stopping as they reached such dense bushes that they could no longer go on, He instructed her to take out her sword. Smiling with anticipation she drew it from her belt with great prowess. She had been training with Him in sword fighting and loved every minute of it. It was like a beautiful dance to her. To be able to use her beautiful sword in actual combat shot adrenaline through her body. “Now what?” she asked, looking around for an enemy to conquer.
He laughed in a good natured way. He loved her naivety. “Use it child,” He answered gently. “We have to go through this way.”
She gazed at the density of the brush, the thick vegetation, the massive branches that He was indicating, then looked back at Him incredulous. “But I can’t! I’m too little!”
“I am strong child.”
She looked at Him, at the bush, at her sword, then back at Him. “Oh,” she said slowly, not really understanding what He meant. Raising her sword she began to chop away the density of the brush. Hours passed before her enthusiasm waned. She sat on the ground in consternation, sweat dripping from her brow. Her helmet lay a few feet away. Her sword lay limply on her lap.
The king gazed at her lovingly. The path she cut was actually only a few feet. He knew she was exhausted, looking for Him, and already not seeing. “Just ask, child,” He whispered.
Her head jerked up at the sound of His voice. What had He said? He would never leave her even if she felt like He had? Her tired thoughts ran together in a myriad of growing confusion. Through force of habit the child reached for her helmet. Shoving it back on her head she jerked her head up in the same moment as understanding became clear.
“My King!” she called.
Instantly she saw Him beside her. Instantly he touched her, refreshed her. He gently lifted her small body onto His lap. Lifting His flask to her lips she drank greedily from it, instantly refreshed by His loving care. “My King,” she said, “I cannot do it without you. How?”
“Oh my child! I though you would never ask. I am here to help you. My love is my essence. Let me fill you. I in you and you in me. My banner over you is love. Together, we level the road. My love is the leveller. Come, I’ll show you.”
Understanding slowly seeped into her brain. “Yes, Lord. Fill me. I in You. You in me. There is no other way.”
The child felt herself give her very will over to her King. Her body disappeared into the body of the King. A giggle came from her as the sensation tickled. She gasped as love filled her to the brim. If He had not been her stronghold she would have fallen over with the sheer force of His love. The King faced the tiny beginning the girl had made, already growing back. He walked through the dense brush, sword raised. She looked behind to see a beautiful path, levelled and glowing with the glory of the King. Relaxing in His love, she smiled contentedly.
“My love clears a way through the wilderness. My love makes a straight highway through the wasteland. My love fills in the valleys and levels the mountains and the hills, straightens the curves and smooths out the rough places. My love will let my glory be revealed. Be filled with my Love!” paraphrased from Isaiah 40:1-5