#FOWP -Trace

FOWC with Fandango — Trace

It was just an ordinary day. Or so it seemed. Kathy was driving around the countryside, re-acquainting herself with her home county, having just moved back there, when she saw a signpost in her left pointing down a narrow country road. In fact it looked more like a rough track than a road. But Kathy had started as she read the sign, and she knew that she had to go and see this place. Nothing could have stopped her following her desire.

As she drove along, with fiekds at either side of her, she began to wonder if she had got it right. She seemed to be going for ever, with no sign of any habitation at all. She almost wanted to turn back and see the signpost again, to make sure she had read it right. Maybe it was not pointing down this road at all, yet she could not think where else it had been pointing, since this was the only road going off the minor road that she had been on. Still, it was odd. However, being unable to turn round in the narrow road, she kept going. She had the distinct feeling that she was going to end up in a field.

Suddenly, in front of her, there appeared a row of tiny cottages. “Ah, habitation,” she thought to herself. But she could not work out where the road went. It seemed to swing sharply to the right, but she could see only what appeared to be a farmyard ahead of her. Tall trees lined each side of the road – if indeed it could be called a road. But then it happened – an ancient stone building could just be glimpsed through the trees. Once at the end of the trees, Kathy could see clearly the building on her right hand side, standing, indeed, in the middle of a farmyard!

A thrill crept deliciously through Kathy’s body. She just knew that this place was going to have the wow factor! As she parked her car, and then almost skipped along the path up to the building, her excitement grew. What on earth was going to greet her as she entered the building? Soon, she was at a red wooden door, and she opened it slowly, breathing heavily and wondering what was going to be beyond it. The door was heavy, but as it opened she was startled by the darkness of the interior. Everything in this place seemed dark, from the dark oak of the wooden pews to the domineering oaken rood loft and rood screen at the entrance to the chancel. Kathy felt rather oppressed by all this darkness and the sheer power of the rood loft that dominated the tiny Church. It seemed to dominate everything. The one thing this place certainly was, was old! But the darkness stunned Kathy. She had not expected this.

After gazing around for a few moments, in awe, Kathy discerned, in the darkness, a stand upon which were to be found various pictures, and leaflets about this incredible place. She went to pick some up, and upon reading one of them, her gaze was directed to the very top left of the rood loft. There, shining out from the very dark wood was a halo. It could be seen clearly, and provided a welcome contrast to the surrounding, overwhelming darkness. As Kathy looked at it, it seemed mystical. It went right into her soul. The leaflet informed her that this was the halo of the Virgin Mary, the remains of the painting that had originally been on the tympanum at the back of the rood loft way back in pre-Reformation times. Miraculously, it had escaped the ravages of the Reformation, and there it was, shining out into the darkness like some kind of beacon.

Kathy fell to her knees. She could do no other before this awesome sight. Nothing had been able to erase this halo. It spoke to her of eternity, and things eternal. She was at a particularly dark time of her life, and she needed to find some light, and some understanding. How had her life come to be as it was? Her faith in many things had been tested to the uttermost, and yet here she was, drawn to this small, yet powerful shining light within the Church. Could it possibly be true that all that she had been taught was real?

As Kathy knelt there she addressed Whoever or Whatever was there, with a plea to be shown the Truth. About her life, and about everything. What she was looking at was so powerful, and yet it was just a TRACE of past times. Times when things were so different. Kathy wanted to KNOW about those past times. Indeed, as she knelt there, it seemed as if there were souls living in these ancient walls. She sensed that if she listened carefully, she would be able to hear their voices, and know what they were saying to her. She longed to hear their stories, for, in hearing theirs, she might gain some understanding of her own.

What had started out as an ordinary day for Kathy turned out to be extraordinary, and she knew, without a doubt, that she would return to that place again and again.

To be continued.