Thursday, January 29, 2009

Two Rooms

In me there are many rooms. Two are so different. Like oil and water. But somehow they stand within a few steps of each other.

Righteousness is all about absolutes. She is a stone tower, round without corners where questions might gather like dust. Her walls are thick and chiseled smooth. Great blocks of stone mortared with logic and the weight of history. There is nothing in the middle of this windowless room. A stairwell winds round its walls and takes you to up to where you can see so very far and wide; back through the forests of time and forward over future seas. There’s not much room high up in my Righteous tower. A great brass bell is suspended over the tower’s empty well. The bell rings only at noon when the sun looks down on the earth and sees no shadows. To stand and look at the world like this – is to be deafened by the bell. It rings again at midnight – against the forgetting dark – to remind us of that noontime truth.

Compassion is a porch. He’s an open airy breezeway, as close to being out in the wild as a room can be. While the roof is of course held up by wooden posts, they are slender, carved with vines and fruit. Compassion is roomy and bright. Wide worn plank floors are easily swept clean of mud and leaves and crumbs. Even in the night it invites the light of stars, moon, and fireflies. In the day it gives shade from the harsh judgment of the noontime sun. Providing shadow and shade a place to stay out of the gaze of righteous heights. Also a shelter from the wicked storm. And too, the perfect place to feel a part of the almighty awe in every rage and blow. All are welcome. Even those too wild to let indoors can rest and let time stand still.

Both these rooms rest on the same foundation. Neither are as essential as kitchen or bed or bath - rooms where the busyness of every day circles and spins. But both offer a place to step aside for a spell. To stand and view above the day. Or sit and rest with those who only wait. I find though, that I have to choose. I can’t be in both places at the same time.

1 comment:

corrie said...

wow Allan, that is deep, for me it is just compassion, righteousness is something that belongs to God in my opinion, certainly not with me. It would scare me. Corrie