Songs and Tears (cont'd)

Here is the continuation of a story I wrote. The first part can be found in our blog archive.

  The excitement mounted as they got closer to Jerusalem. The older people who had an idea how Jerusalem would look (because they had seen it), tried to prepare the younger people for what they would see. The younger people were so excited and they didn't want anything to dampen it, so they tried to quiet the older folk.  They kept on singing and praising God until, one by one, they saw Jerusalem. Then slowly as if a wind was blowing through them, the singing stopped. When Sarah saw it, she gasped, and with the others around her, started weeping. They had expected something so different. Now the sight that met their eyes looked sooooo discouraging. There was just one big pile of rubble.
  Once they reached the city, they started rummaging around in the debris. Somebody found the temple rock and they remembered the many stories they had heard of the grandeur of the beautiful temple. They also remembered the descriptions they had read and it made them so sad to see that there was nothing left of it. Nothing left? Was that really true? No, they still had the vessels and all the resources that had been sent along with them.
  Then one of the elders among them stood up and said:
"My people, hearken unto my voice. Don not be so down heartened. This temple shall be rebuilt. With God's help we shall do it and we shall do it with joy. So, let us start clearing away all this rubble and start building."
  Then a great shout went up and the people replied. "Amen, Amen. We shall rebuild it.
  The next morning, the people gathered about and started cleaning up the rubble. The first thing they did was to sweep off the temple rock and build an altar on it. On this altar, Joshua the high priest offered a sacrifice every morning and afternoon.
  Sarah and her family started cleaning up around the place where Grandmother had lived before so that they would have a place to stay while they were working. Many of the people started clearing spaces to set up their tents. Once again, Sarah had to think of the Israelites and their tents.
  Winter was coming on and they would have to build houses to keep them warm, The Israelites, so many years ago, had had to do this too. They had cleared rubble (people) and built up houses (cities).They had both been heading to the same place with the same vision: To clean up, and to rebuild. Even if the task had looked and would look disheartening, they hadn't and wouldn't give up.
                                                                       Author:
                                                                                  Yesenia Unger