Experiences of Awakening to the Spiritual Path

   Some years ago, before I knew anything about God or Jesus or Mary, I often walked in the woods and asked God to teach me.   I had heard of the "Christ" and was beginning to understand that it was light and love.  On the walks, I would ask to be led, sometimes follow the sunlight on the path, other times follow intuition.  There was one place that seemed especially powerful, a small path around a pond where a solitary heron lived.  Another where mysterious teepees of sticks and branches were built.  There was a mystical feeling here, as the land has been preserved for hundreds of years.
   One day after a long walk I came to a crossroads from wich diverged five or so paths in different directions.  I was lost.  This didn't happen often with me, and I looked around in my confusion.  Suddenly down one direction to my left I saw someone in the middle of the path.  I instantly felt like I didnt want to see them, I think mostly because my mind felt disoriented and I got insecure for a second.  I looked again and this person was in a wheelchair in the middle of the path.  I thought "that's strange, it must be hard for them to move along."  Then I wasn't quite sure what I saw.  Now it looked like a woman with her back towards me, holding someone in her arms (not unlike Mary with Jesus after his crucifixion).  Now, I had to know what is was!  I started walking down this path, leaving the other four or so behind.  But as I walked, it got continually harder to focus and understand who was there.  Even a few yards away I couldn't tell.  It was only a couple feet away I looked down and understood what it was.  It was a simple branch.  A couple feet long.  I stared in amazement, trying to reconcile my experience with what I was seeing.  Then I realized I had a mystical experience.  I kneeled down and put my head on the ground, now with no insecurity, as I had felt before when I thought someone was there.  As I lifted my head I realized this as well: This was the path that led out of the woods, the path that I was looking for standing at the crossroads!   Wether it was Mary, or a vision, or whatever, it was the guidance I needed.   Soon after this, I found the spiritual school I was looking for and the Priests I needed to teach me.  I am amazed at how God, Jesus, and Mary were leading me even before I knew who they were.  And there is more...
   Today I went back to this place, back to the path next to the pond where I saw the heron.  He, or she, had moved to a different part of the lake.  The path that led me before was nowhere to be found.  I walked along the road on the other side looking for the path that was so familar to me, but I couldn't find it anywhere.  Whether It had become overgrown, or the water had risen, or I was mistaken in where it was, it seemed to say "the page on that mystery has been turned, and you cannot go back." 
   I am a different kind of seeker now.  I have found a path, and I look inside myself now for the light, for Jesus and Mary, for guidance on where to go.  But I am so grateful for being called out of the world, so grateful that God heard my prayers those days in the woods, that I was not left orphaned as I felt I was.  I pray for all those who are seeking, I pray for grace for them, that they find a path, and a teacher, and come home to their family.  Amen.