SATURDAY STORY - OCTOBER 23, 2021 BLUE WINDOW PART II

 SATURDAY STORY - OCTOBER 23, 2021 THE FLYING BLUE WINDOW - part II

This is a work of fiction - and builds on last Saturday’s story of a blue window that flies around me.

Last week, I was hit by a snowball on a hot fall day in Texas that came out of a blue window that hovered in mid-air.  And, the blue window was a cloud just over my car and rained only on my car (and me).  But, the blue window was positive too.  It handed me a breakfast burrito 

Over the day, months, and years, this blue window showed up at different times.  Sometimes it was playful - like tossing a beach ball, or playing some interesting music (like the theme to the movie Rocky); and sometimes it was helpful.  Nobody else has ever seen it.  I tried to describe it to a close and trusted friend, she did listen to me and said “That is so very interesting” (and I’m sure she meant it).

I want to highlight two times the blue window was extraordinary.

About four years ago, I was driving on a lonely highway in South Dakota in the pouring rain.  The blue window appeared right in front of my car - and then flashed red and orange.  I immediately braked and stopped just in time as the bridge before me had been swept away in a flood.  WOW.  I called 911 and reported the bridge being out.  I was driving to Pierre where I was going to spend the night, but at that point, time wasn’t important for me.  I turned around and put on my flashers for about 20 minutes until a state trooper arrived.  But, in that twenty minutes, two cars had come that way and I had saved them from being swept away in the flood.  

*****

The second time that I want to mention was two years ago.  I had retired the previous year so I didn’t have to get anywhere that morning.  I stepped out to smell the fresh morning air and the blue window appeared and gave me a steaming hot cup of black coffee.  And, it wasn’t just any coffee - it was Michigan Cherry Coffee.  The aroma was superb.

I asked Blue Window “I know you can talk.  Can we have a little chat today?”

And to my amazement, it replied “I’d love to have a chat with you”.

I asked “Okay, who are you?  Are you the Holy Spirit or a guardian angel?”

Blue Window gave a big warm and inviting chuckle.  “I’ve been known by many names.”

(Well, that didn’t really answer my question).

Remember our first encounter where I managed to grab the window after it threw a snowball at me, I asked “Can I come inside your window?”

Blue Window gave another chuckle and said “Cmon in Karen” and immediately the window morphed to the size of a large door.  I could see green grass in the window as I stepped across the threshold.  

The voice said “Welcome to my world.  Where would you like to go?” 

I thought for a few seconds and answered.  “Can I go to the Alps?”

Blue Window had been with me for years and I was immediately in the Alps - and it was summer (although it had been a cool October morning in Texas).  There were wildflowers all over.  The fragrance touched my nose, and (I’m not sure how), the fragrance touched all my senses - my eyes could see the beauty, but my lips and tongue also sensed the aroma.  

“Can you walk with me for a while?” I asked

“Of course” was Blue Window’s response.  The voice was maybe feminine but maybe not.  The sky was a perfect delicate shade of blue, but with some lazy white strips of clouds. 

As we walked, I could feel warmth all over my body (and it wasn’t just from the Michigan Cherry coffee).  There was an aura of peace in this walk.  I couldn’t tell you how long we walked - it might have been hours, maybe even days.  My legs, which sometimes got sore after a half-mile walk, seemed to be the legs of a twenty-year-old.  

Blue Window said “We can chat about lots of things, but I cannot talk much about myself.  You people seemed to judge people by where they came from, what they look like, what they sound like, and I can be anything - but this trip is for you today.”

So, I asked, “What is your favorite place on Earth?”

There was another deep chuckle from Blue Window.  “I love every spot on Earth.  The deserts, the mountains, the oceans, and even under the ocean’s surface.  I love sunny days, and rainy days, I even love hurricanes and tornados, and blizzards.”  

“How about people”, I asked.  “Every time I’ve seen you, I’ve been alone.  Don’t you like people?”

“Hmmm”, was the calm answer from Blue Window.  The window paused for about twenty seconds.  I thought maybe it wasn’t going to reply.

“I also love people.  But, I am your window, we can be together around other people, but they can’t see me”.

My mind was jumping “How can I be happy?” I was thinking of depression after losing my partner of 34 years.

The Blue Window laughed outloud.  “Karen, you are always happy.  You do let things get in the way, but things are just “things”.  (The way he said “just things” had so much meaning). “Things can’t make you happy.  Love makes you happy.”

There was another pause “You know I read your blogs”.  Somehow that hadn’t hit me before.  “I know you write LOVE WINS as part of your blogs.  But LOVE is an emotion, a feeling, it isn’t a THING.  I’ve read where you quoted 1 Corinthians 13:7 ‘ Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.’.

We stopped for a minute.  We were on the lookout.  Blue Window pointed out “To your left is Jungfrau, across the valley to your right is Finsteraahorn, ahead is Eiger.  The village to your left is Interlaken, then Grindelwald, and on the right is Lauterbrunnenn.  

I asked, “Can you yodel?”

“But, of course” was Blue Windows answer.  In a loud and clear voice, a yodel came out across the miles, with echoes from the neighboring mountains.  

My brain went back to one of my favorite places, along the ridge in Winona where I sang:

On a clear day

Rise and look around you

And you'll see who you are

On a clear day

How it will astound you

That the glow of your feelings outshines every star

The warmth of that moment permeated my whole being.  

After about five minutes, Blue Window said “Let’s move on”.

Blue Window returned to the topic of LOVE WINS.

Bluntly, Blue Window asked “Do you believe that LOVE WINS? Sometimes I sense that it is just a platitude, and at other times I can sense your whole being is LOVING.”

“Do you love the poor?  Do you love the stupid and unkind people in the world?  Do you love your neighbor as yourself?”

A sense of shame washed over me.  For all my talk, I didn’t even come close to my motto.  Love the poor?  Visit those in jail, those who are hungry and thirsty?  No, I didn’t reach that goal.  

My brain wanted to rationalize that I was letting love win.  My brain said, “well, I tried”.  But, I knew that I failed.  I was standing on a path in the Alps but mentally I was naked before God.

I don’t know quite how it started, but I started to cry.  Here I was 74-years-old and I was a failure.  I professed one thing - but I didn’t live it.  

I immediately felt a hug from Blue Window (to this day, I have no idea how a window could hug me.  

*****

“Let me take you on another trip”, Blue Window said.

Immediately we were gone from the Alps and into what seemed to be a huge city.

Blue Window whispered to me “We are in The Kibera slum in Nairobi Kenya.  You can see the people but they can’t see you.  You can’t touch them and they can’t touch you.  Let’s watch.”

There was a booth or a kiosk (I wasn’t sure exactly what it was).  Dirty people, ragged people, children, moms with kids in their arms, were lined up for a couple of blocks.  They had containers of all sizes and shapes.  In the kiosk, there was a team filling those containers with good water.  Blue Window told me this slum had just “happened”.  There was no infrastructure, no sewers, no water.  Electric wires were haphazardly strung overhead.  These people drank water from the pits and holes in the neighborhood and got typhoid and other diseases.  

Blue Window said this kiosk was run by a religious group.  Early in the morning, a tanker truck entered the slum and parked next to the kiosk.  All-day long people came to get water until the tanker ran dry.  Most days they still had water until mid-afternoon.  Blue Window said more people were living in the slum now and the water ran out earlier.  The group that brought the water was trying to purchase another tanker truck was running into political red tape and regulations. The peoples’ huts were mostly just tents.  Some people had jobs in more prosperous areas of Nairobi, but couldn’t afford to move to better lodging yet.  

A few blocks away was a similar kiosk but it had food (mostly rice and beans).  A different religious group ran this mission post.  Again lines were waiting for food. 

Blue Window was watching me as I was watching the people in their immense poverty.  

“They are really poor here”, he said.  “But it still is one of my favorite places”.

I nodded.  

Then Blue Window said, “Hold On to me.  I’m taking you someplace else”.

We flew someplace - I guessed it was California as we flew over the coast.  On the hillside were mansions - each one bigger and more impressive than the one next to it.  

Without a break, we were over central Texas - my hometown.  Here we flew low and stopped.  Blue Window said, “We’re invisible here, so just watch”.

This time I kind of knew the place. It was on East 5th street at South College Street. At the Saving Grace Bible Church.  I had been there once at a garage sale.  It was one of the Black Churches in town.  We landed and we walked a block north and a block east and into the back yard of a house. There was a fight going on in the house.  A man’s voice yelled all kinds of obscenities at a woman.  The woman was cowering saying “Don’t hit me”, “You’re hurting me”, “Stop it”. (Somehow, I don’t know how Blue Window has us in the room like flies on the wall. There were some alcoholic bottles on a table that looked empty.  The man’s words were slurred like he had been drinking.  

Like flies, we were out of that house and into a neighbor’s house.  This one had eight children on the floor watching television.  An older girl, maybe 15 or 16, was in the kitchen making mac and cheese.  A boy with a dirty face came into the kitchen and said “I’m hungry”.  A girl came into the kitchen and asked “When is Mom coming home?”  The girl who was making the mac and cheese answered, “I don’t know when.  She has the late shift tonight”.  

We moved on to a couple of other places.  Some had broken windows, some had appliances that didn’t work, most had children and no adults.

Blue Window said, “This is in your town, Karen, and it is one of my favorite places too.”

I was devastated. Here a few blocks from my house was poverty, abuse, broken families.  

Blue Window and I returned to my house, and he handed me another cup of Michigan Cherry Coffee (how he got it I don’t know).  

“Let me tell you a story”, he started.

“There was a rich man who wanted to be a good person.  A prophet said the rich man had to sell all that he had and give it to the poor.  But, the rich man couldn’t do that.  I think you’ve heard that story before.” I nodded that I had.  I sipped my coffee thoughtfully.

“What are you going to do Karen?” Then Blue Window flew away.

And, I cried.

*****

Hmmm, not quite a Pollyanna Karen story today.  

LOVE WINS - but maybe I need to live it, not just talk about it!!!

Karen