Unfold Your Wings and Watch Life Take Off

Part 4 - Your Rewards

Learning Forgiveness From A Mountain

"Here sheep, this way. This way you stupid animal. Tóir go get that sheep. No Tóir over there."

In the early months of learning to herd sheep Patrick is very angry with both the sheep and his sheepdog, Tóir. He still feels bitter and resentful about the deep injustice at being captured, taken across the sea and enslaved. He vents his anger on the animals in his care.

Winter gives way to spring, summer, autumn and then winter comes round once again. Six years pass. Slowly, imperceptibly, the majesty and beauty of the mountain begins to exert its healing power on Patrick. He rises early to care for the sheep and walks with them for miles across the mountain's rock strewn slopes. As he walks he talks, up to a hundred times a day, to the highest most elevated part of himself. While he talks he listens to the springs as they gurgle out from between rocks wrapped in grass. He watches the golden eagle as he circles above the mountain's steep slopes. He smells the advent of rain as it whistles in on westerly winds. In the evening he leads the sheep around to the mountains westerly slope. Sitting with his dog he watches the clouds change from white to fiery pink and then to purple, as the sun sets over the hills on the far side of the Bréad Valley.

Sometimes as he sits and contemplates the sunset he sobs the heartfelt cry only known by those who have had their hopes quashed. Rivers of tears flow from his cheeks onto the rocks beneath.

At night, with the help of Tóir, he herds his sheep into a fold. Patrick then retires to a small thatched hut beside the pen, where he falls asleep with Tóir to help keep him warm. Occasionally he pens his sheep early, and goes into the woods at the foot of Slieve Miss to play with local children. As the seasons change and the years go by, through communicating with the most elevated part of himself, he feels a deep inner call to accept his life as a slave and develop a special sensitivity to the animals in his care.

Eventually with the passage of time, aided by the mountains majestic beauty and his deep inner call, his heart opens enough for him to forgive his captors and all others who have hurt him. He also forgives himself for treating the animals in his care so badly. During these six years Patrick learns to see that he deserved to be captured since he had led a life far removed from the truth. As his grieving slowly subsides a beautiful, sensitive love is born deep within his being. He feels The Spirit glowing within. This love, moulded from the mountain's rain, mist, rock and sheep dung, and from heartfelt forgiveness, solitude and the perception of truth, is strong enough to see value in being a slave and to withstand, without complaint, the rigors of his daily life. He still feels the pull of his great destiny deep within, but acknowledges that this is not the time for his mission to become clear.

Envoi

I have become bitter and resentful.
I feel enslaved.
I am undervalued.
My hopes are quashed.
At times I fell frustrated.
At times I feel angry.

However as the seasons come and go,
And the years pass,
I learn to see value in service
And a deeper meaning in living.
I am learning the art of forgiveness.