A Return to Meadow Wood by Sam Rawlins

Author:Sam Rawlins [Sam Rawlins]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: -
Publisher: BookBaby
Published: 2016-06-30T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 18

INTO THE VALLEY

The bright sun of the painting became real in all its early morning brilliance. Positioned in a clear blue eastern sky, it cast its illumination upon two figures as they approached from a distance. I was the man carrying a picnic basket, while the woman who walked with a cane was Mattie.

We were just two moving specs across a wide stretch of earth. It was an epic canvas with golden shafts of sunlight illuminating the road ahead that would lead us into the valley beyond.

Almost immediately, other elements were coming into play. An early morning mixture of mist and fog hugged the ground around us as it drifted across the winding road. Emerging through this haze, we drew closer to our intended destination. True to what I had told Doc, this was the beginning of our Saturday morning trip.

Mattie and I had been making our way down an imperfect country road when we came to a stop. We had come to at a point where the road turned more into an old trail that ran across the rolling fields.

“I’m glad Dan let you off for the weekend,” Mattie said, obviously satisfied.

“He felt like with all that’s happened lately, I deserved the time off. I told Doc too, and he was glad you were taking me.”

“I’m glad you came. I’ve wanted to show you the junction of the three valleys almost since the beginning of our friendship. If God still lives in any one place on earth, it’s in a magical place nearby. It’s called Meadow Wood. His Spirit flows through everything that lives and breathes there.”

“Why do you suppose that is?”

“Only He knows, but I like to think after Adam and Eve left Eden, God somehow took that place—or at least the essence of it—and put it right here in our little valley. You see, Jack, this is the secret of Meadow Wood.”

“Have many people come here?” I asked, now very curious.

“Not many,” she explained, “Because everyone that’s ever been here has kept it a secret. Early explorers like Daniel Boone came through here but never revealed its exact location. In the early 1900s Teddy Roosevelt came here but swore everyone in his party to secrecy about its existence. It was so special to him that he resisted all attempts to make it a national park. He thought if civilization came here, it would bring pollution that would eventually destroy Meadow Wood. So those of us that come here have sort of become protectors of it.”

“Have you ever showed this place to anyone else?”

“Yes, I brought Laurie here two years ago. That was before she got sick. Jerry and his wife were going through hard times then. We could all see it was weighing heavily upon her. He asked me if I could help, so I offered to bring Laurie out here on a weekend outing. Jack, she was never quite the same after she’d been to Meadow Wood.”

I was curious, “How did it change her?”

“She was always a spiritual child, but after coming here it could truly be said she walked with God.

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