A Cycle 0f Temptation

The woman to whom Eckt yielded at last wasn't really trying to
get his attention. She lived with her father and mother on a
modest farm at the base of the mountains called the southern
wall. She was unschooled. All who traveled from the west to
the east journeyed through these mountains. travelers often
rested there on their way to the summer pass higher up.
Eckt came upon the farm late one afternoon in the fall. A
pleasant day. He saw the maid herding cows from the fields
and called to her. He ask about lodging and a meal and she
brought him to the house. Her mother took but one silver
coin from Eckt. That purchased for him a hearty meal with
the family and a corner in the barn with a comfortable pallet
of straw. Scripture speaks of a night of fireworks in which
the Earth moved. This was (according to some non-believers)
A meteor shower and Earth quake.

The accounts, all written later, say Eckt left early in the
morning without rendering farewell to the farmer and his
wife. What the nascent saint said to the maid was subject
to a thousand years of conjecture, fiction and (again from
non-believers) ribald anecdotes. He was said to be angry
with himself for having given in to temptation. The
experience did, however, remind him of the concept of
periodic renewal of virtue. He resolved to keep his
attentions focus on the spiritual, on the work of
proselytizing. This he managed to do....for a year.
Twelve months later, almost to the day, he found
himself passing the same farm. That night there were
fireworks (again). If there was an earth quake it was
localized to a corner of the barn. This formed the basis of
a core concept of the evolving faith. A cycle of Temptation,
surrender, renunciation, rededication & Redemption.
The lesson of the "Cycle of Temptation" is that we can
never escape wickedness - but we can repeatedly rise
from our yielding to it.