FAITH








Once there was a woman who noticed one day 
that all those around her moved on, while she
stayed in one place.
 In fact, she helped most of the
people who traveled through her world to move ahead,
but was unable to go herself. 
As she looked about her the woman realized that
she had been encased in a large, 
drab room with dark, dark nooks and crannies and caves, for as
long as she could remember. 

And coming from the air were voices that told 
her how bad or good she was and what she should
do and not do. 
Because she was a curious sort (and the place was 
really starting to annoy her) she tried to 
explore this room to see why she was unable to
leave.
But the dark areas were inhabited by fearsome
things that frightened her so badly that she
 couldnt continue. Even though the room was a 
horrible place to live, it was the only room 
she had. The people she could help, she helped
through small openings in the walls. Though
she loved some of them very much, she felt 
that she had to keep them out of the room to 
keep them from finding the dark, dark secret 
things in the corners, and being hurt by things
she felt responsible. And so she was alone much
of the time.
 As she became more adept at seeing how different
her world might be, the fear that held her world
together began to falter, and her room began 
to fall apart. But she had nothing with which
to replace it, and she became more and more
frantic; rushing madly about trying to hold 
together this dull gray world. She was caught. 
Then one day when she had given up almost all
hope, a creature came by and offered to help. 
She wasnt at all sure how it could improve 
anything, but it gave off warmth and comfort
and was willing to listen to her talk, while 
asking little for itself. 
In this way the woman learned to trust another
 being-something she had never been able to do.
The more she talked to the creature, the more
she understood that she herself had built this
world as a child. 
Then it had been necessary to protect herself
from the evils lurking in the darkness. Then 
the walls had been soft and nurturing. But now
they had grown hard and confining.
And the evils lurking in the darkness werent
the same ones that hurt her as a child. They 
were just the frightening remnants that lived
within her space because she had not found the 
way to cast them out. She began to see that her
companion was not an ordinary creature at all,
but a wise man-a sage-who began to help her see 
her world in its entirety. 
As the sage helped her discover ways to illuminate 
her world and she began to uncover the dark
holes, the fearsome secrets shriveled with age
in the light and began to lose their sharp edges.
 Eventually, they were unable to prick her 
with their hurtfulness. And although they still
caused her great sadness, she could walk amongst
them without them drawing blood. 
Her world was definitely more comfortable. But
something was still missing. Every now and again
the woman would glimpse a light outside her
room. It was such a bright light and seemed so
clean, and she yearned to have it touch her 
with all her heart. She decided that the remaining
walls must come down, so she could travel with
the others, and seek the light.She and the 
sage worked hard on the problem, but the dark
influences were strong and the woman and the 
sage finally had to admit that even the two of
them were not enough. They decided to enlist
the aid of a nearby wizard. Luckily the sage
knew this other wise one (hence the word wizard)
and brought him and the woman together. The 
wizard was so in tune with the source of the
light that he was surrounded by an aura-the 
light the woman had glilmpsed from inside her
self imposed prison. 
She could tell that the light was like fire-that
it could sear her soul and purify her spirit,
leaving her clean. But the woman had been burned
by lesser fires than this one and was very afraid.
However, the wizard was a patient man. With the 
ages help, he slowly taught her the ways of the 
light. They helped her to remember the lessons
of her youth, before she had been frightened 
into building her fortress and all its defenses. 

She began to remember butterflies and rainbows,
flowers on the hills, and sparkling snow on 
the mountains. And with each new revelation, 
her world seemed smaller and darker. 
She knew, deep within her, that in order for 
her world and herself to be cleansed, she must 
give herself to the light completely and without
reservation. But she could not give up her
illusion of control. She couldnt find within 
herself the faith that the light would sustain
her.
Then the wizard showed her a bird. It was a very 
small bird, but it was soaring on the wind. 
"See", he said. "The bird cannot see the air,
but she trusts it with her life, and because 
the air is everywhere, it supports the bird. 
If she didnt believe the air was there,she'd
never leave the nest and fly among the clouds.
Its the same with the light. You neednt seek
it out, because it surrounds us all. You only 
need to accept its presence to feel its support." 

 SARAH of FAITH







MPD INDEX PAGE



 Introduction



MPD LINKS


 Shattered Chrystal