8/12/2019 The Girl Who Saw GOD

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In the Pacific Oceanthere is an island

composed by twomountains. It is as ifsomeone had placed

together two big handfulsof earth and stones in theheart of the sea. Thebigger one is calledSadness and the smallerone Joy .

Mythology tells us thatmany centuries ago Joy

was larger and higher thanSadness , but, due to an

earthquake, part of it fell inthe sea, shaping themountain the way we find it

today.No one knows if that is

really the truth.

The fact is that wherethose two geological

accidents meet li e a girlnamed !letheia and hergrandmother.

!letheia and hergrandma are like themountains" two personswho are always together.

Today the girl is shorterand smaller than hergrandmother# but someday, nobody knows when,

!letheia will wake and shewill be taller than hergrandma. !letheia is going

to grow up and I think thatwhen this day comes, theywill still be together, $ustlike the mountains of theisland.

One day this girlasked" %&randma, whomade the world'(.

To what her

grandmother replied,%&od(.)%!ll of it'(.)%*es, all of it(.

)%+y himself'(.)%*es(.

!letheia left the room with thatcon ersation on her mind.

he was not con inced. hethought about this for a fewdays. In order to digest her

thoughts she went for a walkthrough the island. !lone shethought. !loud she thoughand she began to share herthoughts with whate ercrossed her way" lea es,trees, stones, ants, crickets,

etc. -ad &od created the world by himself'

!fter long discussionswith stones, trees, the ri erand frogs of the island,!letheia went back to her

grandma saying" %It is a lie.&od did not make theworld(.

The old lady wassurprised" %!nd why doyou think so, !letheia'(.

)%+ecause &od doesnot e ist(, answered thegirl.

)%No'/.)%No(. )%May I ask you howyou figured that out'(.

)%I looked all aroundand I do not see himanywhere. 0 er(.

)%Not e en a clue'(.)%Nothing(.

-er grandmotherthought for a while andasked" %If you see -im, willyou belie e in -im'(.

)%*es(, answered!letheia, for childrenalways want to belie e inbeautiful things, as long as

they make some sense.)%Then tomorrow I shalltake you to see &od(.

!letheia1s face wasenlightened.

)%2eally'(.)%*es(.

)%3o you promise'(.)%I promise(.

he imagined him withmany arms and manyhands and hundreds offingers, operating alone

the whole world. &odprobably had wings to fly.Maybe -e had eyes on the

nape of his neck and onthe palms of his hands... tokeep an eye on e erysingle creation.he wished to know howhis oice was, becauseshe wanted to make some

imagination wander until

she fell asleep.

questions and e pected

answers. he left her

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The ne t morning shewoke up early and hergrandmother asked" %!reyou ready to see &od'(.

)%*es, I am4(.)%Then mo e(, urgedthe grandmother, %for we

must climb the mountain(.)%5hich one'( 6

inquired !letheia, who wasa little bit la7y and did noten$oy climbing mountains.

)%Sadness (.

)%2ight the higher one'5hy don1t we climb Joy '(.

)%It is simple, because

from the top of Sadnesswe can see the whole ofJoy , but from the top of

Joy we can only see oneside of Sadness . Now letus go. &od is waiting(.!letheia did notunderstand thee planation ery well, butshe followed

her grandmother and theyboth started the hiking.

2ight after taking theirfirst steps, her

grandmother asked, %5hatcolor is Joy '(.!letheia stared at themountain. It was early in

the morning, the air wascold and the mountain wasco ered by dense white

dew# besides, as the sunwas still low, the shadowof Sadness swallowed the

entire Joy. o the girlanswered")%It is white and gray(.

-er grandmother

agreed and they kept onclimbing.

They walked for sometime and the dew aroundslowly began to fade. Joy

was still o ershadowed by

Sadness when !letheia1sgrandmother asked" %5hatabout now, what color is

the mountain'(.In a glance, the girl

saw that Joy was nowblue" )%It is blue(.

-er grandmotheragreed and the hikingrestarted.

+y this time !letheia

was already tired, %5henare we going to see&od'(.)%5hen we get to the

top. +e patient(, said theold woman.Those were words blownin the wind. 8ids areimpatient by nature,because it takes time to

learn how to wait. The girlwanted to lea e# onlycuriosity kept her mo ing.

-er grandmother

continued walking. 3espiteher age, she seemed todisplay much more

disposition and energythan her younggranddaughter did. Isn1tthere a saying about this'%5ill can remo emountains'(. Not youthnor strength, but will.

9ong was the walk untilthe sun leaked its rays frombehind Sadnessenlightening Joy. Once

again her grandmotherasked" %5hat is the color of Joy?The mountain, co ered

by the forest, was nowgreen, completely green.!letheia was a little boredabout those questionsabout colors, but answered

promptly# %&reen,&randma, the mountain isgreen(.-er grandmotheragreed and back they went

to their walking.

The day was gettingwarmer and the hikersdecided to take a breakand eat their lunch.

)%&randma, what is&od doing up there'(.)%The same he does

e erywhere else(.)%If he does the same

thing e erywhere, howcome we ha e to climbSadness '(.

)% o you can seebetter(.

)%!nd why do you keepasking me the color of

Joy '(.)%To train your eyes(.!letheia finally stopped

asking and ate her food.he thought maybe &od

was colorful.It was early in theafternoon when they wentback to their climbing.!gain,

the old woman asked"%5hat color is Joy '(.

Now, with the sun inthe center of the sky, the

colors were i id.)%It is still green(, wasthe answer.

)%!nd how manyshades of green can yousee'(.!letheia stopped, paidclose attention ansdistinguished, with da7e, a

multitude of shades ofgreen co ering Joy. 9ightgreen, almost white, yellowgreen, orange green, bluegreen, green red, greengreen, dark green, almostblack, bright green, browngreen... There were somany shades her brainwas confused.

The girl had ne ernoticed how the colorschanged and how differentthey could get along the

day.The grandmother andthe granddaughter onlyreached the top late in the

afternoon. There, the old woman asked about thecolor of Joy.

It was almost dusk and!letheia saw the mountainreddish.

-er grandma agreed.

Then the girl, percei ingthey were all alone on thetop of Sadness, asked,%5here is &od, &randma'(.

)%+efore I show youwhere -e is, you must

answer me another thing(.)%5hat'(.

)%5hat is the true colorof Joy '(.

)%I do not know(, shesaid, %it depends on thetime of the day(.

)%Then what is the

color of the day'(.!letheia did not knowthe answer, for the day did

not ha e a color, but it alsobore all the colors..)%&od is like the color ofthe day(,said hergrandmother, %5e cannotsee it, but because of it we

see e erything around us,because it is e erywhere,showing e erything(.

!letheia understood"

&od was light. Not thesunlight, but the light of thesoul and of the heart.

The night fell and whileshe looked at the clearsky, !letheia saw &od ineach flickering star.-er grandmother had kepther promise and she

now belie ed the worldwas made by &od.

The ne t morning theyclimbed down adnessand they could see all theJoy.

T-0 0N3