The Stone

(The SconeLady has joined a Writer's Group! Women who love to write, and who help each other onward. The following is a fictional piece inspired by the photo 'prompt', below:)

Her heart felt like some small bird caught in a vice of stone. Everything she tried, anywhere she went, this stone heart went with her. All the usual human feelings – love, compassion, even hatred – seemed arrested, gone without a trace.

Like that small bird, she once had flown free and felt those things, given that love. But the place where that capacity had been? It was all now heavy, and stony, and burdensome. If only she could rid herself of it!

But a memory, a word somewhere floated back and caught her attention.  “Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

What should she do? What could she do? If she took yet another yoke upon her shoulders, she would certainly fall! (Wouldn’t she?) A whole separate burden might be the last thing she could possibly bear. Still, she had tried everything else and been found wanting every time. Maybe this …

She knelt by her chair and gave suddenly up; she reached out for the yoke offered, and placed it there upon her weary and rebellious shoulders. And though the weight it conveyed was heavy, she found Someone else there, bearing it for her. The strength of that Person would be her strength, and would carry it and every other frightening thing.

From that prone position she slowly stood, walked, and kept pace with her Liberator. The stony place within her had shifted, softened, and the small bird once again flew free.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/shandilee/8546484756/

See you along the way!

the SconeLady

photo credit: <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/shandilee/8546484756/">Shandi-lee</a> via <a href="http://photopin.com">photopin</a> <a href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/">cc</a>