Day 4 - Faith is ...

Day 4

Four participants walked briskly into the circle on Day 4. All four stopped with their second step into the clearing. The cheerleader had been busy. The trees surrounding the clearing were filled with streamers, helium balloons, and sparkled construction paper shapes.

Before the group quite understood what they were seeing, a loud speaker began blaring out some generic rock-driven music. After the drum prelude, just when the bass and lead guitars joined, the cheerleader came bouncing from the shadows, making a fierce tumbling run straight through the middle of the circle, landing on her feet at the very edge, landing solid, with a smile which almost engulf the rest of the circle.

It took almost three minutes for the four to shake loose of this grand entrance and begin moving to their chairs. They shuffled their feet through the three feet of balloons which filled the forest floor. Each one mounted there chair, turned toward the still smiling cheerleader and waited.

The smile on the cheerleader slowly morphed to a full grin, then to a straight line, then to a forceful scowl.

Faith is wonderful.

She reached around the tree she was standing next to and flipped a small, unseen switch. A whirring sound began timidly, and started gaining strength. A small breeze began to stir the balloons and streamers, and began blowing harder. The noise and the breeze stayed linked in their increase until both consumed all around them. A small, unheard click cut both immediately. The four seated participants straightened back in their chairs and looked for the cheerleader.

She was sitting in her chair. All the decorations she had spent so much time on were gone, blown away. All that was left was the clearing, the woods, the chairs, and the participants.

Look around you. The trappings of man have been erased and still look how wonderful this clearing is.

The cheerleader continued with her explanation for the rest of the day. There were times she was calm, sitting in her chair, legs crossed. There were times where she was so excited, it looked as if she might explode. Each argument was skillfully transitioned into the next one, each change in energy level carefully pre-selected.

At the end of the day, she wrapped up her day’s arguments by saying:

Faith is wonderful.

Just look at the parents
holding a new born baby. Just look at the baptism of a wayward teen.
Just look at the joy of the mature faithful. And just look at how a person
of faith approaches their last days on Earth. Look and you will see
that ...

Faith is wonderful.

Silence seeped into the circle as the echoes of her last words drained away. As the last syllable faded, the young girl hopped up and approached the cheerleader. Each in the circle waited to see her reaction. The young girl looked up into the cheerleaders eyes, smiled and kissed her on the cheek, and skipped away.

The rest rose and walked out of the circle.

The cheerleader fought the urge to touch her kissed cheek, then gave in and softly brushed it. It felt warm and soft. She smiled, rose, and left.