M-G: 2.26.12 // Through a Window

As I was looking through a window at the hillside

across from the church parking lot,

the teacher read and expounded upon,

“A time for every purpose under heaven” (Eccl 3:1b).

Several cows were grazing in the field.

An airplane in the background was on final approach.

Shortly thereafter, another plane was on final approach

while the daylight was nearing sunset.

The hungry grazing cattle never looked up;

their heads were buried deep in the green.

The leaves of the tree in the foreground

were being moved by a persuasive wind.

The view and the unfolding of truth by the teacher were surreal.

Everything was in a state of slow motion

yet oddly in concert with one another.

The shadows followed right behind the light of the sun

as it slowly crawled toward the top of the hill;

a few cows were caught up in the shadows

but continued to graze.

Within minutes, only two cows remained

in my field of view inside the window frame.

The black cow near the top of the hill

was grazing in the light

yet untouched by the creeping darkness heading its way, and

the white cow semi-cloaked by the grayish shadows

continued to feed like there was no time to waste!

Both cows were now gone from my view.

The hillside opposite the sun was completely charred,

silhouetted against a Western sky

that was bleeding deeper shades of gray by the second;

darkness was imminent.

When the teacher’s time was over

everything had gone black.

Oh, the Final Approach is coming;

come before my faith should fail,

and the darkness finally catches up to me.

I will lift up my eyes to the hills …

for my help comes from You, O LORD,

who made heaven and earth (Psa 121:1-2).

Let not some sinful spiritual alchemy

turn my grazing into work

or cause me to stray from the truth of Your Word!

I fear that someone looking through a window at me

will no longer see the reality and joy of Your Word in my life!

Help me, help us who love You to be mindful

of those who might be watching us through some window,

finding us always faithful to Your Word

for our sustenance and for others

to the very end of our time and purpose under heaven,

until we are finally window-free for eternity.

"The night is coming when no one can work" (Jn 9:4). <><