Windows

I love listening to Rudy Mancke. Not only does he have a great voice, very calming, but he has tremendous knowledge and love for this world. The former award-winning host of NatureScene and the current host of the daily SCEPR daily one-minute broadcast NatureNotes gives us insight into this world around us that we might not know if it weren’t for him. He answers questions, identifies plants and animals, makes observations about the change of seasons, and occasionally reads poems that make us see the natural world with new eyes. Sometimes I think his NatureNotes is just stream-of-consciousness. He just seems to go where his mind wants to go. He’ll say something like “I walking by the Congaree River and I thought about the tendency for rivers to eventually have their way….” And from there he’s off for the next 60 seconds. I would not be surprised to hear him say one day “I was looking out the window the other day and I thought “Windows! What a great way to see what’s on the other side of the wall without actually having to go to the other side of the wall. Before windows, you had to go around the wall or through a door to see the other side. But now, all you have to do is look through the window!”

Which actually is the point of this wanton rambling of mine. Windows not only help us see what’s on the other side, they shape what we see. I have a lovely bay-style window in the front of my house. It gives me a view of the front yard with its trees, lamppost, walkway, shrubbery, and cats. I can see the people walking down the streets early in the morning and the kids in the neighborhood playing after school. Parts of my world pass by that window every day and I see it framed by the panes of glass.

The window in my study looks out at the wall of my neighbor’s home. That view never changes. There is a brick wall, a window, an electric meter, and some vines that never lose their leaves. If I were to view the world through that window alone, I would think it never changes.

Years ago I was in the hospital in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany. From the window there I could see the Alps that surrounded the town. There was the Alpspitze, a very dramatic, pyramid-shaped mountain, and the Zugspitze behind it, the highest peak in the area. You could just make out the ski runs, and the cogwheel train, along with the beautiful alpine village at the base. I believe the view helped me to recover faster.

Compare that to the time I spent in isolation at McLeod Hospital in Florence, SC during a bout with COVID. The room, which was barely larger than the bed I was in, had a window that looked out at a blank wall. Nothing else. That view, along with my isolation, did not make me a very congenial patient. To be fair to McLeod, the hospital was full and every available space had to be used. Later I was placed in a spacious room, with a window that viewed the expanse of the Pee Dee region. I became a better patient and began to heal faster.

There are all kinds of windows in our lives. Some are physical, like the ones I just described. Others help us to see in other ways. All of them shape our lives more than we know. If we watch lots of news shows that tell us about conspiracy theories as if they were real, we begin to see the world with suspicious eyes (to paraphrase Elvis Presley). If we watch crime, war, and violence, we see the world as a harsh place. If we see acts of compassion and kindness, if we look at the advances in medical science and the increased lifespan of most people, if we see the work toward peace and justice, we view the world quite differently. A friend in one of my churches says, “Every day is a good day.” He sees the world that way, and it is for him.

Some folks like to pray and see the world through religious icons. I have not been able to do that very well, but I know some for whom an icon is a window through which to see the world. Those who know me very well know that for the last few years, I have been studying the lives of the saints. Through their lives, I see God and the world in new ways. Francis of Assisi helps me see God in all of nature around me. Teresa of Avilla lets me see God as a Divine Lover, and Brendan gives me a view of the world as a place to venture into the unknown.

Rudy Mancke helps me see the wonder and intricacy of my own backyard. I wonder what people see when they look through the window of my life?