Bound by a Divine Love

 "A Love Bridge from God to All Others"

To love our God with heart, with mind, with might, 
We give our souls to Him, our guiding light,
In every act, His grace and truth unite,
Our purpose clear, our path in Him is right.

From love of God springs charity’s pure flame,
It softens hearts and binds us with its grace,
A love that reaches every time, each place,
And bears the Savior’s kind and holy name.

This love of Christ, so pure, it does not fail,
It moves us to embrace our neighbor’s need,
In every thought, and word, and gentle deed,
His love through us will always now prevail.

So let us love as Christ has loved us first,
With charity, all selfish bounds dispersed.

Campfire Story Submission 2024

 "Listen to your Children"

Gather around, let the flames dance bright. I’ll share a tale to chill you tonight. You may have heard it, but tonight I’ll share—secrets of sorrow that linger in the air.

Listen. You might catch a woman’s cries of pain—her sobs will chill your spine. What could have caused her such sorrow? Did she have something precious that filled her life with light? But now, that light is gone, leaving her lost in grief. Did she betray a dark secret? Did a curse take her joy? Or did she see a nightmare unfold?

No, it’s something much worse…

The villagers feared the wailing woman. She is said to be a mother mourning her lost children. Terror spread as children began to disappear, leaving only their tiny footprints leading into the woods.
Desperate parents searched the forest, their hearts pounding, the woman’s cries growing louder as they ventured deeper. One night, they followed the wails to a clearing, where they found their children sitting in a circle under a twisted, dead tree. Sort of like this one here.

The woman emerged, her eyes hollow with sorrow. “I lost mine. Now, I have yours.”

Blank-eyed, the children stood and followed her into the darkness, entranced by her haunting melody. Desperation gripped the parents as they tried to reach them, but it was too late. Echoing through the night, the woman’s wails faded as she vanished. ‘Yours will be mine forever,’ lingered in the air, a chilling promise as the children followed her into the depths of the forest.

Since then, if you listen near those woods, you might hear children’s cries—forever lost to the wailing woman. Children taken because their parents didn’t listen when they needed them most, trapped in an eternal sorrow.