June 2009

10-Minute Free Write

Theme: "Pear Blossoms" and/or "Window Seat"

Window Seat

by Marshall Oppel

He sat in the back row. He never liked sitting in the back row. Couldn’t see anything. It was like being next to a window, but the window was so dirty, they might as well just replace it with a wall. He strained to see the teacher and hear what he was saying.

“Remember that God can see what is in your heart, no matter what you do or where you go. You may think that you have made the window to your heart so dirty that he can’t see though it, but all he has to do is take out his rag, and even on the outside, clean it so well it might as well be just thin air.”

Oh wow, he is basically talking about what I was, just with a little more about God and a little different words. Is my window and heart clean? The boy wondered.

“People often wonder, ‘how do I know my heart is clean?’” the teacher continued.

Whoa, déjà vu.

“The best answer to that is, ‘Are you doing what the Bible says? Do you believe Christ died for your sins? Have you accepted Christ as your personal Savior and not just because you parents did?’ If the answer to all those is yes, your heart is clean, but the most important answer that needs to be yes, is the last.”

Maybe after class I should ask him more about this, the boy concluded.

Window Seat

by Eva Maddox

There is something magical about my window seat. I can be stressed to the limit, but a five minute retreat to that special place is amazingly restorative. Why? I am transcended above my puny circumstances for one brief moment—to reflect on the magnificent glory of God’s creation. My problems pale in comparison.

Pear Blossoms

by Eva Maddox

A blossom is the first peek at what is to come–life as it begins to unfold. As the days pass, rains fall and the sun drenches the tree, a luscious fruit emerges. What transformation! Only God could make that happen.

When we first come to Christ in faith, we too, are simple blossoms. A brief glimpse of what will follow. As the years pass, we immerse ourselves in God’s Word and grow in our faith, a mature Christian emerges. What transformation! Only God could make that happen.

Window Seats

by Leslie F. Claunch

Oh, the fascination of window seats. Why don't houses have them anymore?

They serve as toy boxes in the kids room or a nook wrought with sunlight where a teen aged girl can read a love story or create her own in her diary.        

In some cases, they can take on a sinister aspect as a place to hide the body as the Brewster sisters (Arsenic and Old Lace) and so many others in the dark side have discovered over the years.     

Looking at the term window seat from an entirely different perspective, the best seat on a plane is a window seat preferably by the wing so you can watch it part the clouds to reveal the scenes below, or if above the clouds, the sun reflects in shades of orange pink and gold.           

As I was scribbling these thoughts I contemplated whether there was some profound spiritual meaning in all of this. Of course there is: If the eyes are the window to the soul, then the window seat is the soul--the place where all secret, both dark and light, are hidden.  

As for the window seat on a plane, all God's glory is revealed from every angle and aspect.

Pear Blossoms

by Candy Abbott

Then the land will yield its fruit, and you will eat your fill and live there in safety.

Leviticus 25:19 (NIV)

Pear blossoms bring back fond memories of my childhood. We lived on a small farm that included a back yard orchard with mature fruit trees: two pear, two green apple, two red apple, and two peach. In the spring, all I had to do to enjoy the sweet aroma of the blossoms was open my bedroom window. Even now, five decades later, if I close my eyes and drift back, I can smell the fragrance and recall the innocence and security of a time when we didn't lock our doors and could take long bike rides down dusty roads without fear.

Although the pear blossoms are long gone and the world has become a much more dangerous place, God's protection and fragrant presence are constant.

Thank You, Lord, for the fragrance of Your creation and for memories of simpler times. Thank You that, no matter what trials we face, You are with us always, ordering our steps and overseeing everything that concerns us, working all things together for good.