Boy With The Shining Face

     In the Far West is an Indian village. Rising out of the desert and towering over the village is a high mountain. Only the very strong can climb it, so all the boys of the village were eager to try.

     One day the chief said, "Now, boys, today you may try to climb the mountain. Each of you go as far as you can. When you are too tired to go on, come back. But I want each of you to bring me a twig from the place where you turned back."

     Very soon a boy came puffing back. In his hand he held out to the chief a cactus leaf. The chief smiled. "My boy, you did not even reach the foot of the mountain. Cactus is a desert flower."

     Later a second boy returned. He carried a twig of sagebrush. "Well," said the chief, "at least you reached the foot of the mountain."

     The next boy to come back had in his hand a cottonwood twig. "Good," said the chief. "You climbed as far as the springs."

      Another boy came back with some buckthorn. "You, my boy, were really climbing. You were up to the first slide rock."

     An hour afterward, one boy came back with a branch of pine. To him the chief said, "Good! You made three-quarters of the climb."

     The sun was low in the sky when the last boy returned. His hands were empty, but his face was shining. He said, "Father, there were no trees where I was. I saw no twigs, but I saw a shining sea."

     Now the old chief’s face glowed too. "I knew it! When I looked at your face, I knew it. You have been to the top. You needed no twig to tell me. It is written in your eyes. You alone, my boy, have seen the glory and the peace of the mountain."

     You know, the very same thing happens to you and to me when we have been with our Father in heaven and have talked to Him in prayer and felt His presence in our hearts. It shows on our faces. It shines in our eyes. We don't have to tell anyone. Other people will see it and know and be glad.

Catherine Marshall