It only lasted one day. A heavy rain stripped bright yellow and red leaves from their summer branches and blanketed our lawn. For twenty-four hours we had the most magnificent carpet anyone one could imagine. The leaves had not yet begun to dry. They were lush and pliable. Walking on them was like being in an enchanted land of colors that dazzled with each step. Jackson Pollock would have sacrificed a year of his life to have produced something so unworldly. Van Gogh would have cut off his other ear to have added such beauty to his portfolio. Could I have preserved it I could have become a rich man by charging people to see it. But the next day it was diminished. Its prime was past.
I was tempted to write that it was like people. We have a prime and then it is gone. Rarely are we aware when that prime is. We just wake up one morning and look in the mirror and be it ever so subtle we are not the same. Every day that follows steals a bit more. We are pilfered by time. But unlike my gorgeous carpet which will never be again, we have a “primer” prime awaiting us. We will never reach our “primest” because each day will bring yet more vitality and beauty.
Paul wrote, “Just as we have borne the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the heavenly man.” I Corinthians 15:49. A sperm and an egg are not much to look at but put them together and the splendor of a baby is. A wrinkled old man is not much to look at but unite him with Jesus and the grandeur that will forever grow “primer” and “primer” is beyond words.
Written by Roger Bothwell on October 26, 2016
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