Ups.... and Downs

Asherel released the newly constucted, fragile helicopter from her hand. It's tissue covered blades twirled smoothly and to our infinite delight, rose slowly from her hand. Like a butterfly it hovered, glorious  against the sun streaming through the skylights.
"Houston, the eagle is flying!"
After hours of work constructing, weeks of research learning the principles of flight and airfoil construction, money spent on varying sizes of "contest rubber" to power the helicopter, it flew. It flew smoothly, with little wobble and it rose to the rafters 30 feet above our head...to the rafters....on the rafters.....NO! NOT THE RAFTERS! TURN EAGLE, TURN!!!!!!!!!!!

Alas it did not turn. It lodged in the rafters.

"Let's shoot it down!" cried Asherel, as though it were a nuclear weapon entering our airspace, and not our precious helicopter.
"With rubber bands!" she commanded Ben.
The two of them, having more fun than they had had all semester, began firing rubber bands at the trapped hero. One of Ben's managed to hit it, and it shuddered to life. It's rotor began spinning again and once more it lifted towards heaven.
"Hooray!!!!" we cheered, amazed as it continued to fly, and fly and....NO! NOT TO THE FAN! FLY AWAY FROM THE FAN!!!!TURN! TURN!TURN!

Alas, it didn't turn. It lodged in the wire grating of the huge fan, 30 feet above our heads. We could not hope to get it down.  The Community Center worker told me we could return tomorrow with a ladder and long stick if we wanted to try to retrieve it, so that is our mission today, but we all had to sadly leave our stricken copter, dangling perilously close to the fan's blades. It may not survive the night.

Asherel and I then drove away from our captive helicopter to visit our very elderly ex-neighbor who had recently moved to a Retirement Home, against his desires. His wife, in the beginning stages of Alzheimers had taken a terrible shift to much worse and now lived across the street from Komer's new apartment, which he would now habitate all alone. She needed skilled around the clock nursing and had blessedly found an opening in the care facility of Komer's new community. We went to visit, bearing Xmas cookies, knowing that the little joy we might bring would be such a feeble light in such monumental gloom.

The room was too warm, but we sat and talked with the lonely, and sad old man for an hour. Several times, his breaking heart could not contain his grief, and he cried silently, without tears. I suppose the tears had long ago run dry.  In case you were hoping that we brought some wonderful magical words of healing and joy, I am sad to say that particular well of words must have run dry in me as well. All I could do was listen, and hug him when his grief made words too burdensome. The lost helicopter seemed of little consequence in the face of this kind of loss.

"For 92 years, I have faced so much. Hard work always got me through," he said, "But nothing prepared me for this."
As we left, I pointed to the forgotten plate of cookies, "Don't forget your dessert after your dinner," I advised.
"I may skip dinner and just eat all of them instead!" he declared with a feeble smile.


I prayed a good bit last night, in my habitual sleepless hours.
"Thank you for waking me up, Lord," I said, "I pray for Komer. Somehow bring him the comfort that only you can bring." And then there was not much to say. I forgot to even mention the helicopter.

 But what goes up, must come down. Lift and drag. Joy and despair. Rejoicing and grieving. Birth and Death.... and my favorite, sin and redemption.  Oh, Lord, may Komer feel the touch of your hand gentle upon him!  And by the way, if your Hand is not too busy, could it then just shove the helicopter our way?

Ecclesiastes 3

A Time for Everything

 ¹ There is a time for everything,
   and a season for every activity under the heavens:  ² a time to be born and a time to die,
   a time to plant and a time to uproot,
 ³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
   a time to tear down and a time to build,
 ⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
   a time to mourn and a time to dance,
 ⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
   a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
 ⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
   a time to keep and a time to throw away,
 ⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
   a time to be silent and a time to speak,
 ⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
   a time for war and a time for peace.
 ⁹ What do workers gain from their toil? ¹⁰ I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. ¹¹ He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet^[a] no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end. ¹² I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. ¹³ That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. ¹⁴ I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.