The Shadowy Figure

My husband went to bed earlier than me.
I had a few things to do before I went upstairs.
I knew that he would already be asleep when I opened the door.
We each had an early morning the next day.

I walked upstairs and quietly opened our bedroom door.
He teases me that I have eyes like a cat because I can see quite well in the dark.
He needs a low light so he will not run into anything.
I can totally see in the dark.

It probably goes back to the days when my children were small.
Living in the country, we often had power outages in a storm.
They would be afraid when their night light went out.
I would pull up their blinds and say the same thing to them every time.

Look towards the light.
If there was a moon in the sky, I would tell them to look at that.
Simply pulling up the blinds was enough to comfort them.
I would tell them their eyes needed to adjust to the darkness.

I quietly opened the door of our bedroom and gasped.
I put my hand over my mouth, half by instinct and half out of courtesy to my sleeping husband.
I was not quite sure what I was seeing.
I saw a large shadowy figure.

We have a side porch that goes along the width of our house.
It is my special place.
The roof of the open porch is the floor of the upstairs balcony.
The balcony is off our bedroom.

A door to the balcony has many window panes and looks out onto the old farm wall below.
It is a wonderful place to view the full moon and look at the stars.
On the other side of the old farm wall is a thick tree line.
When the trees are in full leaf, I cannot even see our neighbor’s house.

The door with the many window panes has a shade that we close at night.
When I opened the bedroom door, there before me was the shadowy figure of a man.
The man was on our balcony.
Both of his arms were raised in the shape of a V.

I stood there not sure what to do.
It was only an instant but it felt like an hour.
I wanted to call out my husband’s name but no sound would come.
I stood there motionless, our bedroom door wide open, my husband sound asleep.

As I stood there, something did not seem quite right.
The shadow never moved.
The V remained the same.
If the shadowy figure meant any harm, he would have attempted it by now.

The fear subsided.
I took a deep breath and walked across our bedroom towards the balcony door.
I moved the shade just a bit so I could peek out from the side.
There was no one there; the balcony was empty.

I put the shade back in position.
There was the shadowy figure again, his arms still raised in a V.
I peeked out the side of the shade.
The balcony was empty.

I looked up at the gorgeous full moon.
The light of the moon was shining in our bedroom.
No need for eyes like a cat on this night.
I had the light of the full moon to light my path.

Then I saw it.
The shadowy figure was not a man at all.
The shadowy figure was a large tree on the other side of the old farm wall.
Two branches of the large tree formed a perfect V.

I took another deep breath and laughed.
I realized that the dark can be a bit scary.
It is disconcerting to see something that does not seem to make sense.
It frightened me until I knew what it was.

They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.  He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.  Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t even go into the village.” (Mark 8:22-26)

Jesus healed the blind man.
One might ask why the blind man was not healed right away?
Why did Jesus have to heal him a second time before his sight was completely restored?
Jesus is able; Jesus even healed long distance without ever being in the room with the person.

This healing was gradual.
The blind man was beginning to see; however, his sight was not complete.
The two-step healing was not because Jesus’ healing power was limited in any way.
The two-step healing was because of Jesus’ disciples.

The disciples were beginning to see but not fully see.
The disciples were beginning to hear but not fully hear.
What grace that Jesus, fully God and fully man, healed gradually until the disciples caught up.
And so it is with us.

How often is our faith weak?
How often is our understanding incomplete?
How often do we see but not really see?
How often do we hear but not really hear?

I saw what looked like a shadow of a man standing on our balcony.
I looked out the side of the shade and had the moonlight to help me.
It was not the shadow of a man at all.
It was the shadow of a tree.

How often are we like the blind man?
It takes us a while to see clearly.
My words to my children all those years ago are still true.
Look towards the light.

Look towards the Light of the World.
Look to God’s Word, a lamp to our feet and a light to our path. (Psalm 119:105)
Seeing may not happen in an instant.
With the Holy Spirit to guide you, seeing will indeed happen.

I tried to take a picture of the shadowy figure to show my husband the next morning.
Without the light, nothing was visible.
I could not take the picture.
The screen was black.

Lord Jesus, Light of the World, illuminate the path before us. Help us to really see who You are. Help us to really understand all that You have done for us. Even if our faith is gradual now, we know that  one day, it will be complete. Amen.