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They had
been travelling together for some time - a little group
on a special journey. They each had a tent in which to
live - and their tents were of different shapes and sizes
- each having its own unique character and individual
beauty. Each day the group pitched their tents a little
nearer to their destination - a place they could not see
- but which was going to hold for them more than all the
experiences of the journey put together. |
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The group
had begun with two people - or perhaps I should say three
- since when they had lived on their own in the open
countryside, the two, at different times, had met the
Master of the Journey. He had pointed them in the
direction of a destination, and from the day of this
meeting he went with each of them on the journey. When on
the way these two met each other, they decided to pitch
their tents together. Three more soon joined their group
and from then on their five tents were pitched side by
side. |
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A time came
when the tent of one of the first two began to be a
problem for her and the journey became difficult. Some
work was done to try to mend her tent but there was
little improvement, and the fabric of the tent seemed to
be wearing out. The others in the group talked to the
Master of the Journey about the situation. They knew that
he was able to restore worn out tents and that he loved
them all very much. The Master knew that it was best for
the group not to tell them all his plans at once, so they
continued their journey with him, wondering what the
future would hold. As time passed the failing tent became
more and more difficult to live in, and the one who lived
there needed a new living-place free from the suffering
of the tent. It was not that she minded the journey - in
fact she loved travelling with the rest of the group -
but she knew that what awaited them at the end of the
journey was something to look forward to very much. |
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One morning,
something very special happened. The one whose tent had
now got to the point when it was becoming impossible to
live in, looked out - and saw that instead of being on
open ground (as the tent had been throughout the journey)
it was inside a magnificent house. The room was set out
in a way that perfectly suited her and she felt very much
at home. From inside the tent she saw standing in the
room her greatest friend - the Master of the Journey. She
could now see him in a way she never had before. She
realised that now inside the house she did not need the
tent any longer. The Master of the Journey reached out
his hand to her and she went quietly from the tent into
her own room in the Master's home. What joy to be there
with him! |
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The one
whose tent had been pitched next to hers since they
joined together did not see the room, or the house, or
the Master. These are all invisible to those who are
still on the journey. All that was there to be seen was
that the tent was now empty and that the one whose tent
it had been was no longer there. The group knew where she
had gone - her journey was over - she had arrived at the
Master's home. With her own special room there she had no
more need of the tent. |
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It was
difficult for the group to know how to think about the
tent now. In one way it was very special as it had been
the tent in which the one they loved had always lived.
Yet the tent was not the person - and now that she was no
longer visible to them, the tent was only worn out fabric
which was no longer needed. The tent was carefully packed
away; and the group along with many friends who were also
heading for the same destination as they were, got
together to say, 'Thank you' to the Master of the Journey
for giving them such a lovely person and to rejoice
together that the Master of the Journey loved them all so
much and that he was guiding them all towards the
enjoyment of his home. |
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The little
group then continued their journey together. It was
strange for them as they moved on with their tents no
longer to have beside theirs the tent of the one who
meant so much to them. But in some ways it was as if she
was with them as she had always been, because there was
much that was lovely in each of them, and in the life of
their group, which came from the love she had given each
of them and the special way she had cared for them all. |
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