"I've got her! Here! Over here! Come and take her, please! I'm having a hard time keeping hold of her!", the young woman called out.
In the distance, she saw the angels and saints fighting, running errands, commanding troops, training, and taking care of the wounded.
This woman that she held by the arm said that she was on her side - the light side. But she looked an awful lot like someone from the other side. None of this young woman's training had provided her with a results-guaranteed method for distinguishing between the saved and the lost. There was the exercise of the fruit vs. the thorns. And there were exercises for distinguishing between spirits of truth and spirits of evil. What was she going to do? If she let her captive go, what would happen? But she knew in her heart that she couldn't hold onto her forever. Several babies needed to be taught and she was missing that. Fellow soldiers were falling around her and she was unable to support them because of this woman that she clutched.
"I'm just figuring out what to do with her!", she called to those who passed by.
Some gave her looks of frustration. Others ignored her. And some had their own captives to whom they clung - and their captives were definitely from both sides. But as she called, no angels or saints offered to take this woman off her hands. Day slipped into night.
"I can't just let her go. I can't! It wouldn't be fair or right," she thought, shaking her head.
Bomb blasts echoed around her - some far and some near. She was supposed to be three miles from here assisting her fellow officers and several angels. And yet, she hesitated. "Why am I not over there? Because I'm dealing with this confounded woman! But maybe in a minute someone will come. Maybe He'll come and get her."
At least this woman wasn't hurting her anymore. She had finally stopped that. But something in the haggard woman's face told this young woman that the memories of those battles between them had faded. Now she just saw fear and distance - almost like the woman wasn't actually there with her. Whatever was happening, the waiting woman wanted out of her captivity.
In the chill of the predawn morning, the young soldier walked toward her assigned camp, pulling the woman with her. An older man - a saint with great battles behind him - plainly told her to let go of the woman.
"But I can't, you see. She must face judgement for what she's done to me and others. She says she follows The King, but I don't believe her! No one who follows Him would act the way she has!" she said, frustrated that he couldn't see the truth of the situation.
The old man reassured her that he meant what he had said. She kept walking, though, woman in tow.
As the sun came up she had to stop and rest by a tree. The ground was hard in the frost, but she didn't care.
"I have to get this woman to someone who will take her! I can't give up." The thoughts were frenzied in her mind now.
It was all she could think about and she kept repeating these words over and over to herself. An angel slowly walked up and extending it's long arm, pointed to the base camp where she was heading. She shook her head and looking down, she said,
"I"m going there. I know I am supposed to be there already, but, as you can see I'm have something that I need to deal with."
He took a step forward and looked at the woman she was holding.
"I caught her wounding some of our own. She might have even killed a few - I'm not sure. She says she's on our side, but I had to stop her! I have to make sure she doesn't hurt anyone else ever again. "
"Were you one of the ones she wounded?" the angel said as he wiped some blood off of his hands.
"Yes," the soldier said.
The angel looked at the ragged woman and sighed. She seemed to be unaware of his presence and she just looked into the distance. He came closer and said to the young woman,
"She doesn't know that you are dragging her along. She is only aware that her position keeps changing. And I don't think she knows where you are going or why she's going there. You're not going to teach her anything; you're not going to prove anything."
He turned and walked away towards a nursery. The young woman stood and took a few steps in order to follow him, but she knew that was all she was going to get from him.
She stared down at the woman in her grip and anger filled her mind. Her heart called to her; she knew she should let her go. She knew that the old man and the angel were right. She closed her eyes and opened her hand. The released woman's head jerked up and to the side. The young soldier stumbled backwards, eyes now widely open. Her captive looked past her, to the sky and slowly began backing away. Fear and anger flooded the young woman's body and screaming, she lurched forward and caught the ragged woman, once again by the arm.
"I can't let her go!" her mind screamed to her heart.
She walked with speed towards the base camp. She was nearing the front lines now and the fighting was definitely more intense. What each step the flashes of bombs and the cries of the fighting soldiers got louder. She was supposed to be out there fighting and she knew it.
"I'll just deal with her and then I'll join them," she told herself to soothe her burning mind.
Suddenly, her body lurched to the side as a bomb landed not far away. She lost hold of the woman, but was able to snatch her back before she got far. She pushed her hair back only to see Him standing there. He was tall and strong, her Warrior-King. She opened her mouth to speak, but instead she just held out the arm of the haggard woman to Him. He only stood there looking at her. There was fire in His eyes.
"You must let her go," He said slowly, but loudly.
She knew it was more than just to be heard over the fighting. It was loud in her mind, too. "Will you take her?" the young woman asked, trembling both from exhaustion and fear.
"No, I will not. And I don't recall asking you to ask me about it, either. I said, 'Let her go!'." She looked wildly into His eyes and then beside her at the woman who was held captive in her grip. The woman seemed unaware of the presence of the King - even though she had said she followed Him. More anger surged up within the young woman.
"She says she know you and loves you, but she was hurting some of our own soldiers! I watched her half kill fellow commanding officers and babies under her care! She came after me, too. But I caught her and wanted to bring her to you for you to deal with. Are you going to do nothing?!?"
She began weeping - her heart was breaking. She had trusted Him. She thought He hated injustice. Why was He doing nothing?
"You were assigned to this camp and these battles, were you not?" he said, bluntly.
"Yes, sir," she blurted out, confused by the change in subject.
"Then where have you been?" he questioned, grabbing her free arm harshly.
She winced under the pressure of His grip.
"I'm sorry, Lord. I was slowed by this load I have been carrying," she said, breathlessly, wondering what was happening.
"Obviously, but you will pay for disobeying orders - for what you have failed to do," He said, and began puling her toward the tents.
Her mind was reeling. She was His soldier, pledged to Him , in love with Him! And now He was treating her like an enemy soldier. She strained against His tugging, but she had no affect on Him. He was completely unburdened by her.
"Please! Please!" she screamed. "Please forgive me! And I have the right as your child because of your Son! Let me go!"
Her King stopped and leaned forward into her face, His eyes piercing into her mind.
"Then you let her go, " He said
The young woman's head dropped, avoiding His gaze.
"I can't. I can't," she said. The thoughts clouded her mind, formed into words and flowed out of her mouth, unbidden.
The King began walking again.
"I will not let you go if you don't let her go," He said, His voice rising.
She realized that this was totally beyond her now. This was more than just her duty of patrolling the ranks. She had disobeyed a direct order earlier in not going to her assigned camp and now she was disobeying her King. Fear shook her and pain coursed through her heart. Realizations of what was happening cleared her mind of everything that clouded it before. She cared nothing now for the woman in her grip or the justice that was needed. She only cared about Her King.
"Help me, " she whispered.
Immediately, her Captor stopped and grasped both of her shoulders, pulling her toward Him to look directly in her face.
"What?" he whispered.
"Help me to let her go. I don't want to release her. But I do want to obey you. Somehow help me."
She watched as Her King slid one of His hands down her arm and onto the hand with which she grasped the pitiful woman. His hand enveloped hers and He very gently began pulling her fingers, opening them from their death grip. She cried even though He caused her no pain. Relief washed over her whole body and mind and heart. The woman she had brought stood up and ran away, still unaware of what had just taken place.
"What will happen to her?" the young woman asked, no longer anxious, only sad and curious.
"I'm not going to tell you. You might see after the fighting is over, but you might not," Her King said, smiling, gently.
"Let me carry you to your camp," he leaned in and whispered. He then scooped her up in His mighty arms and walked her to where she was supposed to be. Her head rested on his shoulder and she sighed,
"Thank you so much."
No comments:
Post a Comment