It is a great honor for me now to transfer these words onto our website and to share this story ~ and my own truth as well! (See Mushiba’s latest article, Trust your Truth.) The amazing author is Mary Pat Fisher, who has written a plethora of other books. I hope that you will feel the joy in this story as I did….

In the land of the light, beauty was everywhere. The beings of light lived their joy in a sea of golden love. The queen of this land had eyes like a thoousand stars, and her heart shone like the sun.

But the queen knew that beyond the land of light there was a dark and unhappy land. Its people no longer saw the beauty or felt the love around them. The queen felt their unhappiness as if it were her own.

The queens councelor’s suggested a plan: “Someone must travel to that unhappy land to remind the people of their love and beauty. But this mission will be very dangerous,” they warned, “for in the darkness of the other side, it is easy to forget the light.”

For this dangerous mission, the queen chose a small child named Gloria, for she had the brightest heart of all. Gloria’s courage and love were greater than her fear. The queen explained the mission to her: “Not far away, there is a world born of this one. The beings there have forgotten that they, too, are beings of light. They may soon be swallowed by their own darkness. You must help them remember who they are.” Blessing Gloria with her own llight, the queen assured her, “No matter what happens, we won’t forget you.”

The next thing Gloria knew, she was tumbling through a dark tunnel. Her body became heavier and heavier. Finally Gloria felt herself being pulled out of the tunnel. Hands held her upside down, and spanked her. She opened her mouth to speak of her mission, but all that came out was a cry. She was so ashamed that her light dimmed a little.

Gloria then found herself alone in a box. She tried to say, “Please, be with me!” for she had never been alone before. But she could only make strange sounds with no meaning. Her heart hurt so much that it started shrinking. Hands picked up Gloria, moved her from one box to another, changed her clothes, and sometimes hugged her. But often she was left alone in a box, crying from loneliness.

As the years passed, Gloria learned to speak the language of this land. But by the time she could speak, her memory of the land of light had faded until it was just beyond her reach. Whenever she saw rays of sunlight streaming forth, she felt the call of the light within her heart, but she could not quite remember why she loved it so.

Nothing else reminded Gloria of the land of light. The people here were much grayer, for their thoughts were thoughts of darkness. They had surrounded themselves with ideas that their world was a dark and dangerous place. And because the people believed it, it was true.

Gloria’s parents were kind people, but they too, believed that the world was a dark place. “The best you can do, ” they taught her, “is to smile and pretend that everything is okay.” Many people carried false smiles on their faces, even though their hearts were heavy.

Even the children were unhappy in this land. They always crushed Gloria’s happiness when she tried to share it. When she gathered flowers for her teachers, the other children called her mean and ugly names. Sadness spread through Gloria’s heart, until her light almost disappeared. More and more she kept to herself. Her only true friends were the great trees in the woods.

Back in the land of light, the queen knew that something must be done to save Gloria. But nobody offered to go to the rescue. They were afraid that they, too, would forget their light and be swallowed by the darkness.

One day a dull-colored little hermit thrush came to the queen. He was a bird who was rarely seen, for he liked to spend his days in the woods. There he poured his joy out in song, a song like a waterfall of golden light. The thrush begged the queen, “Please send me. I can fly quickly through the darkness using my song to carry the light. I can sing to Gloria. Perhaps my song will help her remember the light.” The queen gave him her blessing, “Go with Love dear thrush.”

After flying a great distance with darkness all around, the thrush found Gloria alone in the woods crying. Hiding among the trees, he began to sing to her. He poured out his heart in songs of love and beauty. Through her sadness, Gloria heard the song. She felt it warming her heart like the rays of the sun. Her heart began to fill with an ocean of golden light, and she could hear echos of something she could almost remember.

Gloria’s light began to glow again as the thrush sang to her. Every day she came back to listen, and everyday he sang until his strength was almost gone. Knowing that he must save enough song to fly back through the darkness, the thrush revealed himself. Seeing Gloria’s surprise at his drab appearance the thrush said, “It is not I who am beautiful, but that of which I sing. You will find the beauty of that light in your own heart.”

The thrush continued, “Do not be fooled by what you see. The light is in all beings. You will find it hidden in their hearts if you look with the eyes of Love. I must go now, but the light is always with you.” As the thrush flew away, Gloria began to cry. Just then a bully appeared, “cry baby, cry baby,” he called.

She wanted to run and hide, but the thrushes words came to her. She made herself look at the bully. His face was twisted in pain. And when she looked deeper, she could tell that his heart was hurting even more than hers. Instead of shrinking, her heart opened in Love for him. As it did, she saw the light hiding deep inside him.

From then on, whenever Gloria felt her light dimming and her heart shrinking from the hurts and ugliness of this land, she remembered the light in her own heart. And whenever other people acted as though the world were a dark place, she looked deeper into their hearts and saw the light hidden there. As they saw their own light reflected in her eyes, their sadness was healed.

Through the years many hearts opened to Gloria’s light. It spread from one person to another until finally the whole world was alight with Love. The land of darkness again became a land of light.