Unexpected Detour

We're almost running down this path,

wide view to the right, the left, in front.

What we see is all we ever wanted.

Our lives unfold down it

and for a moment

everything resides in this.

Like sudden shout,

A wall.

A voice.

A call.

"That is as far as you will go."

We stagger to a stop.

Hungry eyes seek what once was meant for us.

With gentle love,

sweet reassurance, our gazes are turned.

It's a mist of darkness.

And we can no longer see anything at all.

"I'll walk it with you,"

He says.

Like rod of iron from Lehi's dream.

Like stones of light touched by the Savior.

We turn away from the grand and glorious

And take his out-stretched hand.

Perhaps now, our fingers interlock a little tighter

First with his, and then with each other.

The darkness may press down around us

The mists may be deep and heavy.

So much is left to the unknown.

But I will walk it.

At the end of the rod of iron was a tree of life.

And at the end of a journey lit by stones,

They found a promised land.