Mannequin Living

I did a double take as I was at the traffic light.
I was the first car at the intersection and looked across the street at a quaint restaurant.
I saw a man in an upstairs window staring straight ahead.
I was tempted to wave since he was looking right at me.

He was dressed in a black suit and white shirt with a dark tie.
He had dark sunglasses on, even though the day was overcast and dreary.
There was something about his stare.
He never looked away; he never moved.

No one stands that still.
Something was just not right.
There was something eerie about the whole scene.
I looked intently, not caring if he noticed.

It was a mannequin.
An impeccably dressed, much too realistic mannequin.
The light turned green and I turned away from the mannequin’s stare.
I laughed at the absurdity of the situation.

Why would someone have a mannequin in the window above a quaint restaurant?
How many other people did it affect the same way it affected me?
How many other people actually waved?
How many others realized they were tricked before the light turned green?

Clever.
Absurd.
A bit creepy at first.
Funny, when you took the time to think about it.

More questions than answers it seems.
This happened once before.

There is a barn not too far from my house.
Someone who often has barn sales now owns it.
Wonderful antiques can be purchased in that barn.
I found my Hoosier cabinet there.

Years ago, we would pass by the barn each day.
If we happened to pass at night, there was a tiny window that was always lit with a candle.
One particular night, my daughter said, There is a lady in that window.
Being in the back seat, she had the freedom to see all the sights that I couldn’t see.

A lady in the window?

Yes, a beautiful lady in a big hat.

I made it a point the next day to drive slowly past the barn and look.
Sure enough, there she was.
A lady dressed as a Gibson girl, with a large hat and what looked like white gloves.
In the candlelight from the night before she looked as if she was waiting for someone.

In the daytime, it was quite obvious that she was a mannequin.
Why would a mannequin be in a barn window?
Why would the window be lit with a small electric candle?
My daughter wanted to find out.

I told her that if we ever pass the barn and someone was outside, we would stop.
One day, there was a woman weeding her garden.
We pulled over, got out and introduced ourselves.
She was delightful and seemed used to people stopping by, probably for the same reason.

She directed her comment to my daughter when we asked our question.
You like Esmeralda?
My young daughter giggled at such an unusual name.
We inherited her, the kind woman said; She has been sitting in that window for years.

I looked at the woman with a thousand questions on my face.
She came with the house, as if that was enough.

Actually, it was enough.
It fit the barn somehow.
The barn where local history said a hanging took place a long time ago.
Perhaps Esmeralda was waiting for a lost love or mourning the death of a loved one.

No matter.
There she sat.
Waiting.

We smile at the absurdity of mannequins.
How real they look.
How very unreal they are.
But how many of us are just like them?

The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out by the Spirit of the Lord and set me in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me back and forth among them, and I saw a great many bones on the floor of the valley, bones that were very dry. He asked me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” I said, “O Sovereign Lord, You alone know.” Then He said to me, “Prophecy to these bones and say to them, ‘Dry bones, hear the Word of the Lord! This is what the Sovereign Lord says to these bones: I will make breath enter you, and you will come to life. I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.’ “
(Ezekiel 37:1-6)

We are like the mannequins in the window before the Breath of the Holy Spirit enters us.
When the Spirit breathes into us, we come alive!
We are reborn!
We are made new!

Our heart of stone becomes a heart of flesh. (Ezekiel 36:26, 27)

No more mannequin living!
No more looking good on the outside, but dead on the inside.
No more trickery or double takes.
Rather, life breathed into us by the Spirit of God who makes all things new.

Are you window dressing or are you authentic?
Are you living a mannequin life: dead on the inside, or are you really ALIVE?

Today’s the day!
The Wind of the Spirit is blowing.
Breathe deep of the Breath of Life.
And LIVE!