DARE TO BEGIN

On the last day the Shepherd did a very wonderful thing. He took Much-Afraid apart by herself and carried her right up…to a high peak, dazzling white, uplifted like a great throne with numberless other peaks grouped round about.

Up there on the mountaintop he was transfigured before her, and she knew him then to be what she had dimly sensed all along—the King of Love himself, King of the whole realm of Love. He was clothed in a white garment glistening in its purity, but over it he wore a robe of purple and blue and scarlet studded with gold and precious gems. On his head he wore the crown royal, but as Much-Afraid bowed herself and knelt at his feet to worship, the face that looked down upon her was that of the Shepherd whom she had loved and followed from the very low places up to the heights. His eyes were still full of gentleness and tenderness but also of strength and power and authority.

It was then that Much-Afraid took courage to ask him something which she had never dared ask before. With her hand held in his she said, ‘My Lord, may I ask one thing? Is the time at last soon coming when you will fulfill the promise that you gave me?’

He said very gently, yet with great joy, ‘Yes—the time is not long now. Dare to begin to be happy. If you will go forward in the way before you, you will soon receive the promise, and I will give you your heart’s desire.’

--Hannah Hurnard