Tomorrow I may have to go and fly away. But not today, no not quite yet. For today, for this warm afternoon I lay sprawled on the leather couch looking out onto the sun slicked pavement of county road 100. Last week I moved all of my belongings, my clothes and books, even my tree into a new home. I left Sonja and Lindsey at Norman-ville, which was my home for over a year’s time. And I moved all those boxes of mine into the back room of the Aldridge’s home.
The Aldridges. A family that I have been close to ever since I moved to Joplin. A family that has taught me about community and God and being open and honest. A family that has accepted me and loved me through all of my defeats and disasters. A family I don’t know what I would do without. But I am not alone, I’m not alone in these feelings that my heart contains for this family because I know more than a handful of kids, of college students, of yearning girls and lonely guys that come here for a haven. So many people, people ranging from baby hood to adulthood retreat to this cowboy stained place that over flows with sweet tea.
I moved out here to the white shuttered paneled home that lies among the grass and lilies to escape the ruckus of town, I moved out here to the forested, horse filled prairies to clear my head, I moved out to the open land to the lengthy grass roots that flow silently in the wind breeze so that I could dig my roots down a little deeper here in Missouri.
So, I woke up on my cot, in my room with the wind blowing a kiss on my face as sweat slightly slung my neck, to roll over and see through the wooden blinds a masterpiece. I’ve looked out a lot of windows from my bedside in my life, and I have to be honest this is one of the best. I’ve laid on a hard firm mattress in Italy to look out upon cobbled streets and people in a fury at the market as they shout Italian. I’ve woken up with bites and rashes from the bed bugs that ate me at that hostel in Belize to look out over backpackers holding hands while walking over white sand beaches and crystal clear water. I’ve woken up on a wooden bunk bed to look out my shack’s window in South Africa to see the land roll on into the sunrise as the wildebeest roam in herds and the zebra follow close behind. And I will never forget walking up in a dorm room to see the cafeteria right out front and students meandering to class.
This window from my bedside, it’s a little different. Beautiful in its own way, but a little more precious. I woke up to see the fields go on for just a way before they ran straight into the trees, and as a very light fog barely sat upon the thistles they reflected the red of the sunrise. The sun was barely up as it was already shouting and spurting out the colors of righteousness to welcome it’s way into our day. And the sun did not keep its rays to itself, it spread its light unto the rest of the world.
Just as that sun spread and touched everything in its path, Aldridge’s do that. They spread light onto every person that walks through their door onto their wooden cowboy floor. Just like we are all suppose to do, as Christians that is, spreading Jesus’ light onto the world. Do I dare entire into such a cliché statement as that? Do I dare say spread the light of Jesus into the world?
It may be cliché, it may be corny, it may be overrated… but how true it is. The sun has a way of saying good morning, easing into the day slightly, lovely, patiently. Just as we are to love on people. The sun does not shoot itself straight into the middle of the sky and it does not fall on the earth on top of you, smoldering you. No, it is patient, it is kind; gentle almost.
But its true, we can only fully appreciate a sunrise once we have been in the darkness of the night. This last year was so hard for me, so full of stress and trials and tribulations of the sort. And out of the darkness I have been placed in the sunlight, being able to wake up to the glorious gobs of light that are being poured over me now, whether that is relationships or working in a coffee shop or preparing for an African adventure. That’s what is going on in my life today… I’m waiting in a moment of sunlight, watching the sunrise slowly rise and taking in every piece of its beauty, for there is a beauty in the silence, there is a beauty in the peaceful heart, there is a beauty when the Lord draws near in this soul of mine. Where do you lay your head today? When you awake I hope that it is a magnificent sight for eyes and a tug to every chord in your heart.
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