As I happened to travel through the crowded cities and rural areas of this world I found everywhere people who were discouraged, lonely and miserable. Peace and joy seemed to be rarer than gold. The darkness of despair hung like thick black clouds over many homes and entire villages. Bleeding hearts, broken homes, crushed love, shattered dreams, wounded pride, and deep remorse seemed to be as thorns on the fair path of many a life. Whether rich or desperately poor this terrible disease seemed to affect them all. Laughter was common but behind the laughing eyes there lay an abyss of emptiness in nearly all hearts. Almost wholly hidden by the dainty flowers of pleasure yawned a terrible precipice of grief full of jagged rocks not at once discernible but surely there and ready to do its deadly work. Some seemed to be blinded by these things and had so long lived with them that they thought it was the truest happiness. Thousands were rushing on towards an agonized death without an ounce of understanding to their fate. My heart broke to think of their pain.
“Oh,” began a cry to sound to the many frantic ones, “you can have eternal sunshine, joy and peace can be your lasting treasures. Only come and I will show you the way.” Some were unmindful of the voice for they thought it was only one of the many reachless echoes from the distant mountains. Others looked up with hope but soon the clouds would roll back across their sky, or seeing another dainty flower to pursue they all lost the sound of the sweet words. A few stopped to catch the lovely sounds of such good news and to you who wish for those sweet words to be true I write. I have penned this story in hopes of bringing you from these perplexing scenes to a respite of joy.
Permit me to take you away in your imagination to a land where all is joy and peace and bliss. There is no pain, no sorrow, no stress, and no fear. Love is as common there as the flowers which grow in rich luster on every corner and pour their rich perfume continually into the air. It is a place where the clouds of discouragement and misapprehension never roll across the sky, in fact, darkness of every kind has been permanently banished from that happy land. The air is not only permeated with the perfume of flowers but also lifts, upon its gentle wings, the sweet and melodious songs of exquisitely beautiful birds. The notes that are poured from their tiny breasts are such as mortals cannot describe but surpass in loveliness anything we have yet heard. The inhabitants of that land are happy, content and lovely in every way. They are so different from the people around us that to give an accurate contrast would take more words than this document could contain. All these things are but a few of the matchless wonders of that place. To name them all would be impossible.
I wish to tell you the touching story of how that place became what it is. It has not always been the way that was just portrayed but has gone through much drama and strife. In each scene of this tale is witnessed deep love and tenderness above what we can fathom.
The story all begins long ago in a place much like the one I have just described. It was a place of perfect peace and love, a place of joy and of wonder. All the inhabitants lived in perfect harmony and unrivaled love. But one discordant note began to mysteriously sound in the celestial harmony and that one note swelled until the harmony was marred and almost wholly destroyed.
Lucifer, that one discordant note, was enamored by his own beauty and became jealous that none, besides himself, should receive loyalty or homage. As time went on He became bold in His desire for exaltation and began sowing the tragic seeds of dissatisfaction among his companions. Just as ridiculous as it is for us to think of a house rebelling against the carpenter who built it, so it was for Lucifer to rebel against the one who had brought him into existence and given him life and happiness.But this being of exalted state did not fully understand with whom he had to do. Every act of creation, even the creation of his own being was an expression of infinite love. True love springs forth spontaneously and it is impossible to force its existence. This the Author of love comprehended to its very depths.
In yearning pity for Lucifer and his followers, the compassionate Creator sought to draw them back from the abyss of ruin into which they were about to plunge. With such efforts as infinite love and wisdom only could devise, He made a way by which these rebels could be brought back into favor with God. But Lucifer would not be a partaker of these things. Instead, he turned from his only means of happiness and chose to war against peace and joy from that time forth.
With grief, indescribable grief, God must now cast out this object of his love to be forever banished from His presence. He would allow Lucifer and his sympathizers to carry out their form of government and let them prove to all whose ways were best. He knew He ran a risk of losing more of His precious subjects but this risk Love was willing to make. It was with pain that God banished Lucifer and his cohorts from bliss but from this pain, God turned to bestow love more abundantly.
Continued in "A Respite for You" part 2.
Continued in "A Respite for You" part 2.
