I cannot be with anyone

At that moment the sun touched the blood-red petals so that they shone more vividly than ever, and a little whisper rustled from the leaves.

My name is Bearing-the-Cost, but some call me Forgiveness.
Then Much-Afraid recalled the words of the Shepherd, On the way up the precipice you will discover the next letter in the alphabet of Love. Begin to practice it at once.


She gazed at the little flower and said, Why call you that?

Once more, a little whispering laugh passed through the leaves, and she thought she heard them say, I was separated from all my companions, exiled from home, carried here and imprisoned in this rock. It was not my choice, but the work of others who, when they had dropped me here, went away and left me to bear the results of what they had done.


I have borne and not fainted; I have not ceased to love,
and Love helped me push through this crack in the rock
until I could look right out onto my Love the sun himself.
See now! There is nothing whatever between my Love and my heart,
nothing around to distract me from him.
He shines upon me and makes me to rejoice,
and has atoned to me for all that was taken from me and done against me.
There is no flower in all the world more blessed or more satisfied than I,
for I look up to him as a weaned child and say,

Whom have I in heaven but thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire but thee.

by Hannah Hurnard "Hind's Feet in High Places"