She was small, but her doubts were great.

Restless, she did not know how to follow her own path.

She wandered from town to town.

Searching for a place…
…where she could simply be.

A step or two along a new road, and she would already believe she had taken a wrong turn.

One day, word reached her of a little cottage standing upon a hill.
A great man lived there.
A man who could see everywhere.
A man who understood what he saw.

The moment she heard it, excitement filled her heart.
Without another thought, she left the place she had been calling home.

She walked for three days and three nights.
At last, she arrived at a crossroads.

Four roads stretched toward the sky.
East.
West.
North.
South.

“Which way?” she wondered.

She sat down at the edge of the crossroads.

Off to one side.

She watched the people.

How they hurried.

How they fled.

Or simply stood still.

She watched in silence,

while her heart wrestled within her.

Now and then she asked a passerby whether they knew the great man.

Some shook their heads.

Others laughed at her.

A few encouraged her.

For three days the little woman remained there, sitting in the middle of the crossroads, without a path of her own.

Then a man approached.

She greeted him politely.

“Good day. Good day. Could you tell me which way?”

“Where is it you wish to go, little woman?” he asked kindly.

“I wish to find the man of whom the old tales speak. The great man—not merely in stature. The man who sees everywhere… and understands what he sees.”

The man smiled and looked into her eyes.

Impatient, the little woman slipped off her shoes.

Her heart hesitated.

She sat upon the ground.

Then she continued.

“I am searching for the man who knows everything.

Who understands everything.

He must show me where I belong.

Where I am meant to stay.

To live.

To love.

I must know how to begin.

When to end.

Where to go.

Where to be.

He can tell me everything.”

She spoke without pausing.

“And what will you do,” the man asked quietly,

“when you know everything?”

“When I know everything, I shall finally be able to live.

When I have seen everything, I shall finally believe.

When I have heard and understood everything, I shall truly feel.

Only then will I settle.

But what if I walk in a straight line?

Where will I arrive if I circle the whole world?

And what if another wind leads me astray along the way?”

The man sat down beside her.

He listened.

He watched her.

He did not interrupt.

He did not question.

He did not hurry.

Her doubts were many.

She could not take a single step.

Her heart was burdened because she could not see the whole road…

…because she did not know where it began…

…or where it led.

She rested for a moment.

She drew a deep breath.

She took a sip of water.

Then the man quietly asked:

“If you knew everything…

…would you still walk?”

The little woman fell silent.

The question settled deep within her heart.

In the distance, a rustling stirred her awake.

She put on her shoes.

She stood.

No more doubt.

No hesitation.

She simply walked the path she had chosen.