Dreaming?

I approached the lush riverbank. The parched and crunchy straw-like grass gave way to tall mature grass blades blowing in the warm summer wind as I neared the cool, refreshing water.

Mist drops of water from the rushing rapids blanketed my face and brought joy to my dry and cracked lips. And there I saw him - the man crouched down as if he were praying. Who was this man, I wondered. The closer I stepped toward him I could tell it was someone vaguely familiar, but from behind it was hard to tell. He seemed to be very busy at work as I yelled to capture his attention. I thought the sound of the rushing water made it difficult for him to hear me, so I yelled all the louder and approached even closer.

Who was this man so enthralled with his work that he didn’t hear my voice? I became angry and indignant. "Who are you?! I want to know who you are!", I screamed at the top of my lungs. Then I noticed his head slowly turn toward me.

"It’s about time", I thought impatiently. And then my burning anger and selfish impatience turned to sheepish embarrassment as I recognized the man’s face. He was also holding in his hands something that was easily recognized by only me. There on the riverbank knelt the Son of Man, Jesus Christ.

As he turned to me, his look of disappointment was mixed with a gaze of love. There He was, holding my blackened soul in his bloody hands, scrubbing it clean. My ugly, dirty, sin-stained, wrinkled, tough-as-leather soul lie in the nail-pierced hands of the spotless One. ‘I forgive you’, were the only words He spoke.

With tears in each of our eyes, we embraced.