This is the legend of the Cherokee Indian Youths' Rite of passage.

To become a man in the Cherokee tribe the Father takes the young boy into the forest blindfolded and leaves him alone. The boy is required to sit on a stump the whole night and not remove the blindfold until the rays of the morning sun shine through it.

He cannot cry out for help to anyone. Once he survives the night, he is a MAN.

He cannot tell the other boys of this experience because each boy must come into manhood on his own. The boy is naturally terrified. He can hear all kinds of noises. Wild beast must surely be all around him. Maybe even some human might do him harm.

Regardless of what he hears, no matter what the weather he must sit stoically never removing the blindfold till morning. It would be the only way he could become a man.

Finally, after a horrible night, the sun appears and he removes his blindfold only to discover that his father is sitting on the stump next to him. He had been at watch the entire night, protecting his son from harm.

We , too, are never alone. Even when we don't know it. Our Heavenly Father is watching over us, sitting on a stump beside us. When trouble comes all we have to do is reach out to Him.

Labels: soul talk, Tasty Tuesday