“There is a Wine that flows from the vineyards of the Lord,
Its sweetness aged in jars of clay, its price none can afford.
And wise men say that he who tastes its sweetness on his tongue
Will understand the Mind of God and evil overcome.”
With tear-filled eyes, a dying father passed these words on to his son… then peacefully closed his eyes and surrendered his spirit.
His wife had died giving birth, and so he raised his son alone. He had been a good father and a generous man; yet because of a physical handicap, he had lived a difficult life and was never able to give his son all the things he had hoped to.
Years went by, and the son tried to make his mark on the world. But every time he advanced himself to a position of status, his father’s words would return to him… and he would remember how his father had struggled in a world that would not accept him as a whole being.
It was not a quick decision—more of a gentle pulling—that caused him to leave society and begin his journey in search of the Wine his father had spoken of. He believed that if he could only find this Wine, he could use the knowledge it bestowed to heal the wounds of the world and make it a better place for all of mankind.
His travels took him near and far, to places unknown to most. From the finest crystal, he sipped the wines of kings and rulers, yet none could give him the knowledge he sought. And when at last, his fortune spent, he returned from whence he came and sipped the wine of paupers, still he gained no wisdom that could help him change the cruelty he saw.
He spent his final years caring for abandoned and orphaned children in the house where he had been born. And when at last he could journey no further, he prepared himself to die. Tears filled his eyes as he remembered his father and the hardships he had endured. He had hoped that in his lifetime he could repay his father’s love by finding the Wine he had spoken of—but now his own journey was over… and he had failed.
As the children gathered around his bed, he gazed into their tear-filled eyes and realized he had failed them as well, for he had nothing left to give, and they would once again be alone. Tears of compassion rolled down his frail, bony cheeks and fell upon his dry, cracked lips. With a parched tongue, he licked them away—and in doing so felt his body relax. A peacefulness he had never known flowed through his entire being… for he realized that his tears had lost their brine, and at last, he could taste the Wine.
“There is a Wine that flows from the vineyards of the Lord,
Its sweetness aged in jars of clay, its price none can afford.
And wise men say that he who tastes its sweetness on his tongue
Will understand the Mind of God and evil overcome.”