My Place
Each person should have a place where they can go, where they come alive, where they feel complete. I've traveled a fair amount and I've enjoyed most of the places that life has taken me, but rarely has life offered me a place where I feel entirely free to be me, a place that is my own.
As a child, I found a place that seemed magical. It was a tiny little island in the land of always-summer that seemed to make me truly come alive. It was one of the most beautiful places I'd ever seen. It had a bell with a legend that said, if you rang the bell, you would later return to that very place. I fell in love with that place and wanted, with all my heart, to one day return. As I rang the bell, I deeply hoped and prayed that the legend would not let me down.
It didn't. About 11 and a half years after I rang that bell, I returned to this very island that I had lost my heart to. I remembered the bell and wanted to revisit it, as well - but I couldn't find the bell, and no one I talked to had even heard of it.
I had a gut feeling that it was in a certain Japanese memorial park, so last weekend, with the determination to find my bell, my roommates and I set out in search of it (well, I set out in search of it and they thought they were just visiting the beautiful garden with me). Being in the beautifully manicured gardens again, I knew the bell was not far away - it was as if the legend actually was true and it was drawing me ever closer, back to the bell. Eventually we followed the little stone path that led back into the forest.
As I followed the path, I picked up my pace - I just knew I would find my place again. And I did! I came a round a corner to the top of a little hill, and looking down I saw a little Oriental-style building. I ran the rest of the way down the path and rounded the side of the building.
To my dismay, it was dead-bolted shut, but in front of the little house of prayer I found the same plaque that told me of the legend many years ago. It says, "Anyone who rings this bell will vow the eternal peace and love. Anyone who rings this bell will be blessed with the great joy and happiness. The sound of the bell filled with peace and love will lead them to this special place someday, again."
It was so amazing to be back in that very place once again. I know it wasn't the legend that brought me back to this beautiful island, it was God that wanted me here. I hope to be able to ring the bell again before I leave, because I think it's a beautiful legend and it has a special place in my heart, but I know that even if I don't, I think God might lead me back here again some day, because "the world is too small for us to neglect the only places where we feel truly alive" (Malika Oufkir).
As a child, I found a place that seemed magical. It was a tiny little island in the land of always-summer that seemed to make me truly come alive. It was one of the most beautiful places I'd ever seen. It had a bell with a legend that said, if you rang the bell, you would later return to that very place. I fell in love with that place and wanted, with all my heart, to one day return. As I rang the bell, I deeply hoped and prayed that the legend would not let me down.
It didn't. About 11 and a half years after I rang that bell, I returned to this very island that I had lost my heart to. I remembered the bell and wanted to revisit it, as well - but I couldn't find the bell, and no one I talked to had even heard of it.
I had a gut feeling that it was in a certain Japanese memorial park, so last weekend, with the determination to find my bell, my roommates and I set out in search of it (well, I set out in search of it and they thought they were just visiting the beautiful garden with me). Being in the beautifully manicured gardens again, I knew the bell was not far away - it was as if the legend actually was true and it was drawing me ever closer, back to the bell. Eventually we followed the little stone path that led back into the forest.
As I followed the path, I picked up my pace - I just knew I would find my place again. And I did! I came a round a corner to the top of a little hill, and looking down I saw a little Oriental-style building. I ran the rest of the way down the path and rounded the side of the building.To my dismay, it was dead-bolted shut, but in front of the little house of prayer I found the same plaque that told me of the legend many years ago. It says, "Anyone who rings this bell will vow the eternal peace and love. Anyone who rings this bell will be blessed with the great joy and happiness. The sound of the bell filled with peace and love will lead them to this special place someday, again."
It was so amazing to be back in that very place once again. I know it wasn't the legend that brought me back to this beautiful island, it was God that wanted me here. I hope to be able to ring the bell again before I leave, because I think it's a beautiful legend and it has a special place in my heart, but I know that even if I don't, I think God might lead me back here again some day, because "the world is too small for us to neglect the only places where we feel truly alive" (Malika Oufkir).
Comments
mwah
sj