When I was little, my house was located in a deep mountain valley. My village had only fourteen households, and there was no bus there. I had to walk forty minutes to go to the elementary school, and it took me almost one hour by bike to go to the middle school.
The high school was too far to commute from my house, so I stayed at the school dormitory. During the week I stayed in the dorms, and on the weekends I went back home, where I received rice, side dishes, and pocket money to spend the following week.
Every Saturday, I had to hurry to go back home. There was the bus that went near my neighborhood, but it didn’t come that often. If I missed the bus after school, I had to take the last bus. In this case, I needed to pluck up great courage; because when I got off the bus, I had to walk for about half an hour along the meandering mountain path where there were no street lights.
I sometimes had no choice but to take the last bus though I tried not to. Whenever that happened, I got off the bus, gathering all the courage that I could muster. Nevertheless, it was of no use once I started walking the mountain path. I had to pass by tombs every once in a while, and there were the sound of water flowing in the dark stream, the sound of unknown birds, and the spooky howling of wild animals. It was more than enough to drive a grown-up high school girl into fear. My heart beat fast in the surroundings where it seemed like a ghost or a wolf would pop out suddenly to attack me; sweat came out of my forehead and back even in the cold winter.
My whole body and legs stiffened, but I tiptoed to walk as quietly as possible because even the sound of my footsteps scared me. When I was about halfway home in the mountain path, I saw something shining from the other side. Then I heard a familiar voice calling my name. It was my mom!
She was looking for me, shining a flashlight here and there. Then I sprinted to where the light was coming from, shouting, “Mom!” It was the moment when a scene from a scary movie turned into the happy ending of the movie “3000 Leagues in Search of Mother.”
“Mom, I was scared to death. I thought a ghost was going to jump out!”
“Oh, you poor thing! I am glad that didn’t happen.”
My mom felt sorry as if I had really met those scary things and fought with them, and she checked here and there of my body to make sure I didn’t get myself hurt. She comforted me and kept saying that she was proud of me for walking the mountain path all by myself.
After I met my mom, the scary walk in the mountain path turned into an exciting nighttime walk. I wasn’t scared at all because my mom was with me. I felt lighthearted from what was weighing on my body and mind that I got while living away from home.
Whenever I think of my mom who walked the same mountain path in order to meet me, I am reminded of Mother who is with us so that we won’t feel scared on the way back home. Heavenly Mother is safely guiding us to our heavenly home by shining the light of the truth in this dark world. After meeting Heavenly Mother, my soul that trembled with fear in complete darkness has been freed from fear and found peace. Today, too, I am joyfully walking back to our heavenly home with Mother.