As you enter the “The Steps to the Castle” it is recommended, if you haven’t done so, to take first “The Journey” as that story continues. The steps will be familiar to some, and unknown to others. Even in the familiar there are always new things to see and learn. I hope you will fully interact with each step. After picturing the scene, there will always be a scripture to read. The interaction will take different formats for example, a prayer to speak, a song to hear, a question to consider. As we taste the daily menu together, I am believing we will see just how good God is.
You awake as if from a dream and look up at the tall, thin, tightly planted trees, their branches entwining together forming a canopy over your head. There is that sense you have been here before. After walking on a well-trodden path across a patch of bluebells you see a swing. Not a plank of wood, but a chair! One it appears sculptured, smoothed and varnished to show the wood grain and bring maximum comfort. A memory stirs. Beyond the rustling trees and bird song, the forest is silent. You put your rucksack down, sit on the chair, and gently swing back and forth. Memories can be fleeting, others easy to access. You begin to work the swing up higher and higher in your endeavour to remember.
The higher the swing goes back and forth you are reminded of the highs and lows of in your experience of life. To reach the highs there has to be momentum, once in the lows it is hard to push back up. You recall those times when you have asked, ‘What is it about? Why are you here? Does your life have a purpose? If so, there must be more to life than this. You hear people say, “Oh God” as if deep within is the instinct to call upon Him something you too have done. Previously you’ve doubted he hears or answers, but something is changing in your belief that He exists and cares about you.
Far away through the trees a girl is singing. It’s not a tune you know, you strain to hear the words as its poignancy begins to touch your heart. The swing loses momentum as transfixed you listen to her voice. The words echo a desire deep within you, you listen and find the answer at the end of the song.
Listen/Sing: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kCJLyb0C1c4 – 9 minutes
Read: “He led his people through the wilderness! His tender love for us continues forever. Psalm 136:16-17 (TPT)