You are meant to discover the special music that God gave you before you came here in physical form...When you play your own notes, you add to the Divine Symphony. No one can take away your music, and no one can play it for you. You have to reveal it yourself...just like Savannah Hartt, the troubled teenager who discovers a new way to look at her life, in
Dance With the Divine. The following is an excerpt:
The fall air was still warm, but the tinge of winter’s bite was lurked at the edges of the morning. Savannah closed her eyes and let her body relax, as she wondered about what Ms. Andersen had said about asking the wrong question.
“If ‘why did this happen to me’ is the wrong question, what is the right question?” Savannah thought to herself.
“Don’t ever ask why,” a quiet voice inside her head exclaimed. “It will only lead to more ‘whys.’”
“Why is that?” Savannah asked with a mischievous smile playing on her lips, her eyes still closed.
“Oh, so you want to play word games, do you?” The voice answered with a hint of good humor.
Savannah felt herself drift off into a deep sleep. When she woke up, she was groggy and disoriented. She sat up slowly and looked around to get her bearings.
The sun had continued its upward path in the sky. Beams of light filtered through the trees, making dappled patterns of color on the ground. The air had warmed up and Savannah stood up to take off her jacket. When her left arm caught in the sleeve of her coat, she twisted around to get it off.
And that is when she saw her. Or rather, them.
The shadow lady stood on the other side of the pond, her back to Savannah. Her silhouette moved gracefully in flowing movements. She faced the sun and it looked almost like she was dancing with its sunrays of luminous light. The dog sat patiently under a tree, ears and nose perked toward her owner.
Savannah broke from her trance and sprung into action. She gathered all of her things and got her bike ready to ride. She had to find this person and discover who she was and how she could simply disappear. Besides, it was a lot more fun to solve a mystery than to wallow in her depressing misery.
As Savannah started to ride around the pond, she glanced to make sure that the mysterious woman was still there. Savannah just caught a glimpse of the woman’s silhouette. They were walking away!
“Darn it,” Savannah cried in frustration. “Not again!”
She rode as fast as she could through the thick grass, but never could catch up to them. She even tried calling out to them, but they continued to walk away calmly, not breaking their stride. The pair seemed to be from another world, their calm demeanor belying the fact that they traveled over a lot of ground without effort.
Savannah did all she could to catch up to them, standing on her pedals to get the most speed out of her bike. The handlebars waived back and forth and she used them to push herself harder and faster. Her long brown hair streamed out behind her like a banner, declaring to the world that she was on a mission. Despite all of her efforts, the woman and her dog disappeared around the next turn in the road.
After several minutes, Savannah finally had to stop and catch her breath. She looked around her and realized with a start that she did not know where she was. In her focused determination to reach the woman, she had not paid attention to where she was riding.
And now she was lost.
“Don’t panic,” she told herself sternly. “Why didn’t I bring my cell phone?” she moaned to herself.
The forest of pines, elms and oaks that surrounded her did not answer. It was much darker on this road, because the dense foliage blocked out the sun. Savannah was in the middle of a dirt road that twisted in front of her and behind her. She was just about to turn around, when she noticed a mailbox partially covered by smaller saplings. She parked her bike and walked over to see if she recognized the name on the box.
As she got closer, she noticed that the mailbox was shaped like a small house, complete with a front porch, windows and doors. Savannah had never seen a mailbox like this and she studied it intently. Painted a sunny yellow, it was complete with a bright red door and blue front porch. There were even two tiny rocking chairs waiting on the porch! Savannah half expected small, magical fairies to hang out the windows, asking in high voices what she was doing in their front yard.
“I must be losing my mind,” she muttered.
Just as she was about to turn away, she noticed the initials, “DWTD” painted next to the tiny front door. “What does that mean?” she wondered out loud.
She peeked down the driveway and discovered that she could see a short distance before it made a right hand turn. Savannah just caught a glimpse of a large tail as it turned the corner, and she knew that her mystery woman and dog had walked up this drive.
Savannah hesitated – should she follow them or turn around and go back home? She was scared of getting in trouble, but the pull of solving the mystery was too strong. With a shake of her head, she pushed her bike up the drive as quietly as she could. As she walked further down the driveway, she began to feel different. Her senses told her that this place was special.
She entered another world.
Leafy limbs gracefully formed a canopy over the dirt lane. Sunlight filtered through the trees in quiet grandeur, dappled rays of light sparkling down to the small dirt road. The drive was barely wide enough for a car, and it looked too natural to be man made. The liquid notes of a cardinal in full song filled the air with music.
Savannah took a deep breath of the sweet air and felt her entire body relax. She paused for a minute to admire the beauty of this forest, and her mind stopped its maddening dance of thoughts. She set her bike against a tree and stood in the middle of the lane, face upturned, eyes closed and palms relaxed by her side. The small frown of worry that had taken up residence between her eyebrows fell away.
For the first time in as long as she could remember, peace invaded her soul.
Time stopped and her world no longer felt like it was spinning out of control. She heard the same quiet voice again inside of her, and the two words it spoke to her infused her with happiness and joy.
“Welcome home.”
She smiled in gratitude and opened her arms wider, accepting her place in this new world. She did not think – she just reacted from her heart. Open and receptive, her heart stepped forward and seemed to grow and expand. Savannah began slowly twirling in a circle, eyes closed, arms outstretched, palms open and relaxed. She looked almost like a flower, eagerly waiting to receive the sun’s nourishment.
A solitary beam of sunlight filtered through the dense foliage and landed on Savannah. She felt its warmth and stopped her twirling so she could absorb its heat and strength. White light glowed from inside her eyelids. As Savannah watched the light, it collapsed into a glowing ball of blue.
She had never felt so happy and peaceful.
Time and matter stood still. It seemed as if the earth paused for an eternal instant and held its breath waiting for Savannah to choose and accept the message of the blue light.
Savannah’s body remained standing in the middle of the magical forest, but her spirit knew what to do. She knelt in homage and bowed her head.
As soon as her spirit acknowledged the blue light for what it was, Savannah felt such a rush of love pour over her that she gasped in awe at its magnificence. The strength and power of it stunned her so much that she gasped and broke the connection.
Savannah’s eyes sprang open involuntarily. She found herself back in the forest, back in herself, but she felt disoriented and confused. Her breathing quickened and adrenaline flooded her body. Savannah had no idea what had just happened to her, but she knew that she had had enough for one day.
She quickly grabbed her bike, turned it around and pedaled as fast as she could to the mailbox. If Savannah had thought to catch a quick look over her shoulder, she would have see two pairs of bright eyes glowing with the same love-force that she had just experienced in the forest.
She missed the clue. All she wanted to do was to get away from this place as fast as possible. A quick left hand turn and soon she was back on a familiar road, heading toward home.
Only to wonder about the other world she had temporarily touched. What was that all encompassing love that threatened to overwhelm her?
If you enjoyed reading this passage, please support me in the Next Top Spiritual Author Contest. The winner is awarded a book contract with Hampton Roads Publishing! Go to www.KathrynEriksen.com and click on the link to vote.
Blessings!
Kathryn Eriksen
Women & Spirituality
