If I was a road, I would narrow myself down from a four-lane highway to a two-lane road into a dirt road off the beaten track with a rusted chain link across it.
Along the side of me would be tall brush that no one had bothered to cut for many years. The brush would look uninteresting and unpretentious, as if nothing important was really coming ahead.
The chain link and the nondescript brush would keep out all but the most serious of travelers – the ones who really want to make the trip.
People could drive their cars only so far. People could only go so fast. The ones who want to go real fast would probably back up and turn around when they saw the dinky chain link.
But the others – the ones who are really serious, really adventurous, really up for something special – they would get out of their cars, lock their doors and begin to walk, really experiencing the fresh air and sunshine as if for the first time ever.
As I became this dirt road on the other side of the chain link and people walk across – really just a hope of a chain as the link is old and rusty and only ankle height, more of a barrier for the mentally challenged than these true adventurers, I would open up to a palace.
This palace is not really a palace like they have in Europe but more of an American version of a splashy place where beautiful women wear long gowns of golden sequins and men wear tuxedos and little kiddos have to go to bed on time but still look out their windows and wonder.
In front of this American palace would be a fountain.
From afar, the fountain wouldn’t look like much, just like the four lane road and the two lane road and the dirt path also didn’t look like too much.
However, when you approach the fountain, what you would discover is that the fountain produces continuous rainbows – one right after the other, which might seem impossible at first.
If you were a traveler on my road, you would stop and stare as you have never seen anything as beautiful as that fountain with the continuous rainbows.
As you approach to look closer, what you would discover is the voices of angels – soft at first, but when you listen you can make out that they are speaking quiet words of wisdom just for you, in a language that you alone can understand.
It’s as if the fountain is speaking your own personal language, and you feel surprised that this fountain on this nondescript road off the beaten path is speaking to you so clearly, telling you what you have always wanted to know about yourself, leading you to uncover your true soul’s mission.
You had forgotten you had a mission.
You were so engrossed in the picnic farther back – the one where you had stopped on the four-lane highway where everything was looking rather normal and less radical – that you had forgotten you came to take my road for any particular reason.
So you are watching the continuous rainbows, almost blinded by the sparkle of it all, and hearing the angels speak to you directly to your heart, when all of a sudden a big car drives up.
You aren’t sure how that car got there as you yourself had to stop and slow down to a walking pace to get here.
The big car has old fashioned headlights, an open top and big shiny red doors on it.
There’s a lady inside with a long silver scarf fluttering in the wind.
Her hair is done up nicely and you aren’t sure how she got here without managing to mess up her careful coiffure.
You yourself are a little shaken up by this, as everything was seeming rather normal even just a few hours ago, and now all of a sudden you are seeing continuous rainbows in an endless fountain, hearing the voices of what you now realize are your own angels and then this beautiful creature with the long silver scarf, lace dress and careful hair steps out of the car and comes over to shake your hand.
“Hi,” she says, “I am the one you have been waiting for.”
Now at this point, you feel like turning around, running back that little dirt road, hopping over the chain link, unlocking your car and roaring off.
You were just a little curious. It wasn’t meant to be anything serious.
But now you are seeing this creature who is obviously an angel.
You have never seen an angel before – not a real one at any rate – so you are a bit startled but you know for sure that this is it, the genuine article.
She takes your hand and she sits down with you at the side of the fountain.
Butterflies magically land on her shoulders and she laughs a lot.
Meanwhile, you put your hand out, waiting to see what happens, and a butterfly lands in the palm of your hand.
You don’t need to say anything to this fantastic creature as she understands you better almost than you understand yourself.
She whispers a few things in your ear. It all seems so easy!
How did she know all this about you?
It doesn’t really seem to matter.
You nod your head and say goodbye.
As you turn around, your heart feels light, your cares seem few.
You turn around and walk on back down the dirt road, this time not with any fear in mind but with a knowing now that everything is going to be all right.
What a concept!
Your future is assured.
The transmission has passed and you now know what to do, where to go, who to see, how to lift yourself past the burdens you once thought had obstructed you.
Looking back over your shoulder, all of a sudden the palace vanishes, the fountain disappears. The angel in the long big red car has vanished.
You wonder if it was all real.
When you get to the chain link, you hop over it lightly.
Your pain is gone.
Your suffering feels like a thing of the past.
Was there a problem anyway?
You aren’t really sure.
All you know is that you experienced a vision and that your mind and soul are all the better for it.
Turning back into your car, you charge up the motor and even your car feels like a new vehicle.
You drive back into civilization totally transformed but you are not sure how or why.
