Cherokee Indian legends are among some of the finest legends if you are looking are inspiration. And the legend concerning the Indian youth's rite of Passage is an inspirational story on faith that goes like this:
When the time comes for a Cherokee Indian to go through his 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.
Like the boy in this story, we too, are never alone. Even when we don't know it, God is watching over us, sitting on the stump beside us. When trouble comes, all we have to do is reach out to Him during the night.
How proud the Indian youth must have been that he did not disappoint his father. He obeyed all the instructions and never once varied from them. It is a good lesson for us today. We should keep all the commandments as God gave them to us and not vary from them. We should walk in FAITH, just as the young lad did, and know that God is always there even though we can't see Him.
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