posted March 19, 2008 03:34 PM         

Lakota Youth Rite of Passage

His father takes him into the forest,
blindfolds him and
leaves him alone.

He 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 lad must come into manhood on his own.
The boy is naturally terrified.
He can hear all kinds of noises.
Wild beasts must surely be all around him.
Maybe even some human might do him harm.
The wind blew the grass and earth,
and shook his stump, but he sat stoically,
never removing the blindfold.
It would be the only way he
could become a man!

Finally, after a horrific night the sun appeared
and he removed his blindfold.
It was then that he discovered his
father 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 the stump beside us.
When trouble comes,
all we have to do is reach out to Him.

If you liked this story, pass it on.
If not, you took off your
blindfold before dawn .

Scott B. Redenius