Picture if you will a desolate land. It is barren and dry. The rains have not fallen for years. trees are skeletal and leafless. What water can be found is hoarded and fought for. Very few share their water, even at the cost of others lives.
In the midst of this land there is a woman. She is as dry and barren as the land in which she lives. Garments of heaviness weigh her down, making her movements slow as she searchs for her next drink. They are dirty and black.
She is a lonely wanderer with no destination. Her only goal is to survive, and there are some days when her only wish is to give up that goal.
Enter into this barren land a Knight. He is not an ordinary man and everyone around him knows it. There is something more to this man, something different. He freely shares his water, with any who ask. It matters not whether it is a child, a man or a woman. He gives freely, sometimes not waiting for them to ask him, sometimes offering it to them. Some refuse, not trusting him. Others drink as though they are dying, which they are, and are bold enough to ask for more. His water flask never runs dry.
The woman clothes in black watches the people around her being transformed as they drink. Many of her friends were likewise clothed as she, but when they drink from the Knight's water supply, something happens to them. They disappear from sight, for a heartbeat, and when they are seen again...they are changed. Their garments are no longer dark, but brilliant white...sometimes with gold thread woven in, sometimes silver. And robes look so light, as thought they are no longer a burden to wear.
The woman sees people being transformed, and in her heart she wants the same. She wants to stand before this Knight, and drink from his flask. She wants to look into his eyes and see the unconditional love he has for the people. She so longs to touch him, to be sure that he is real...and longs for him to touch her, to feel the warmth of his embrace. But she is afraid.
Afraid that when she gets to him, the water will be gone. Afraid that when she looks into his eyes, that the love he shows others won't be there for her. Afraid that he will turn her away. So she decides to save him the trouble, and turns to leave......
Only to find him standing there in front of her.
"Are you thirsty?" he asks, in a gentle voice.
Her filthy hands pulls her robes closer, her heart beats wildly...and she nods her head once.
With gentle hands, and eyes full of love, the Knight pushes the cowl of her robe away from her face. He places one hand behind her head, and the other holds the flask to her broken and cracked lips.
Cool, clear water floods her sense. The sensation is not just inward, but on the outside as well. She opens here eyes, and sees only his face as water cascades down on her. It washes her black garments away, and for a heartbeat she stands before him naked and ashamed.
"I am the giver of life," he whispers. "I am the living water. I cloth you in robes of righteousness."
And then the moment is over. The woman looks down at herself and sees the most beautiful white garment she's ever seen. Brilliant white, glistening in a supernatural light. In it is woven gold threads, not so much as to be gaudy and overbearing. And it is so light. She can breathe.
Tears start sliding down her face, and the Knight wipes them away with gentle hands.
She, like the others who had been found by the strange Man, now belonged to Him in a way that could not be undone. She belongs, she has been accepted, she is loved. She is no longer alone and the land is no longer barren.
And she can breathe.
She is no longer the woman in black...she is now The Woman in White...and her story is just beginning....
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