Unconquered Territory (6)

Cast cords of love around my heart, then hold me and never let me go.

May the Saviour’s wounds sway me more than the sceptre of princes.

Let me love thee in a love that covers and swallows up all,

That I may not violate my chaste union with the beloved;

There is much unconquered territory in my nature,

Scourge out the buyers and sellers of my soul’s temple,

And give me in return, pure desires,

And longing after perfect holiness.  

The Valley of Vision, edited by Arthur Bennett, Banner of Truth, page 345.

Scourge out the buyers and sellers of my soul’s temple

Many years ago, when I was living in New York City, I looked into my wallet and saw I had virtually no money. At the time I was living in a house for ministers and missionaries operated by a church in Brooklyn - so while I had a place to stay and a place to eat (though we were expected, as I recall, to provide for some of our own meals), I really had no money with which to function - how I came to that predicament I do not recall. As I pondered what to do I thought of a church holding services that evening within walking distance of my residence and I said to myself, “I’ll go there, they will ask me to speak and they will give me an offering.” This was fairly common in those days and I had every reason to expect that I’d leave the church with more money than I had when I entered it.

That evening I left my residence with Bible in hand and walked toward the church. When I was about a block away from the church, close enough to see it, I came to my senses and thought, “What am I doing?” I turned around and walked back to the Mission House. To go to a church and speak not because God sent me, but because my wallet sent me, was a thing I could not go - God was merciful to me by convicting me of my gross stupidity.

The Bible gives us examples of men who engaged in “ministry” for money, power, and position; the prophet Balaam especially comes to mind - not only do we see him in the book of Numbers, but Jesus speaks of his nefarious way of “ministry” in Revelation - a way which has wormed its way through all generations - a maggot feeding on the sin and greed and promiscuity of fallen humanity and of “ministers” using the ministry for their own pleasure and gain (see also 2 Peter Chapter Two and Jude).

But here’s the thing, in our world of money and greed the temptation to evaluate situations based on money is great, the temptation to make decisions primarily based on finances can seem overpowering. Jesus drove the money changers and those who sold doves from the Temple (Matthew 2:12 - 17); are there things in the temple of my life that He needs to drive out? Am I using the things of God for my own ends?

This is not an easy question for me to answer and it comes up with more frequency than I care to acknowledge. Do I use the things of God to look good? To gain advantage? To seek favors? Not to mention the whole money thing - “I’ll give you a dove if you’ll give me a dollar.”

I realize that the enemy can attempt to introduce false guilt and doubt into life. I also realize that God uses us even though our motives may not always be the best. Paul was careful to distance himself from financial impropriety, and he often worked at a trade rather than receive money from those whom he was directly serving (1 Cor. 4:12; 1 Thess. 2:9).

It seems as if our sensitivity to the danger of money-motivation has diminished, so pervasive is our worship of money. Money trumps doing what is right and moral. Money often trumps Spirit-led ministry. I have been in more than one ministry setting, in congregations and in other forms of ministry, where the question has not been, “What is God saying? How is God leading us?” But rather, “What can we do to generate income?” When we exchange a yardstick for a meter-stick it doesn’t take long to forget we ever had a yardstick, so accustomed do we become to the new way of measuring life and decisions. We have become so adept at making decisions based on money that we don’t need to seek God, to trust Him, to pray - we can make it happen without His help...yes, it would be nice if He’d bless our agendas, but if not we’ll be fine.

Well, whether it is money or power or recognition or any number of other things, my desire (I hope) is that Christ will drive these things out of the temple of my soul and make my temple a house of prayer, a place where others can come for light and life and healing in Him. Deliver me, oh Lord Jesus….from myself.

Unconquered Territory (5)

Cast cords of love around my heart, then hold me and never let me go.

May the Saviour’s wounds sway me more than the sceptre of princes.

Let me love thee in a love that covers and swallows up all,

That I may not violate my chaste union with the beloved;

There is much unconquered territory in my nature,

Scourge out the buyers and sellers of my soul’s temple,

And give me in return, pure desires,

And longing after perfect holiness.  

The Valley of Vision, edited by Arthur Bennett, Banner of Truth, page 345.

There is much unconquered territory in my nature,

I am not sure that the word “nature” is the best word here, for our old “nature” died with Christ (Romans Chapter 6) and we have been given a new nature, His nature. God is not interested in renovating or improving the “nature” we were born with - He is interested in putting it to death, which He has done...oh if we would only recognize it.

Having said this, there is a sense in which we can say that there is unconquered territory within us, at least I can say it - I don’t pretend to understand the inner workings of humanity or of myself, I get a glimpse at times, but I am actually pretty dumb about the whole thing. This is one reason why I am driven to Christ and His Word, for I cannot help myself; I can deceive myself but I really can’t do much, if anything, to help myself. Many of us are masters at deceiving ourselves. Thankfully God’s Living Word penetrates to the depths of our innermost being (Hebrews 4:12) and does what only it can do...reveals sin, unveils Christ, and transforms us into His image...this comes about as, by His grace, we surrender to Him and submit to His Word.

I am reminded of accounts of isolated Japanese soldiers who, not knowing of their nation’s surrender, lived in jungles decades after WWII ended thinking they were still combatants...combatants in a war that ended long ago. Are there areas of my life that have not surrendered to Jesus Christ? Are there pockets of my inner person hiding from Jesus and His light and Word? Are there fortified cities? Are there underground tunnels? Have I erected walls, fortresses?

I wonder if I climb behind barriers so I don’t have to come out and trust God, exposing myself to Him and others? I wonder if I buy into the world’s disinformation about life and its values; do I submit to the fears and anxieties of the culture? How sad to live in a land in which Christ is Lord and yet not know it. How sad to live in His Kingdom, in territory that He has truly conquered, and yet be deceived into thinking that His victory is incomplete.

Well, as I said above, I don’t understand all of this but I do know that we can trust our kind and loving heavenly Father and our Lord Jesus - for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son; that is amazing love - to think that God loves us; you, me, others - I’ve never met a person whom God doesn’t love; I’ve met folks who I don’t love - shame on me - help me Lord to love as you love.

We can take consolation and hope in Paul’s words to the Christians in Philippi (Philippians 1:6): “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” (NASB)

Here’s the J.B. Phillips translation, a nice one: “I feel sure that the one who has begun his good work in you will go on developing it until the day of Jesus Christ.”

I like that idea of “will go on developing”.

Lord, help us to surrender ourselves to you, let there be no territory within us that You have not conquered.

Unconquered Territory (4)

Cast cords of love around my heart, then hold me and never let me go.

May the Saviour’s wounds sway me more than the sceptre of princes.

Let me love thee in a love that covers and swallows up all,

That I may not violate my chaste union with the beloved;

There is much unconquered territory in my nature,

Scourge out the buyers and sellers of my soul’s temple,

And give me in return, pure desires,

And longing after perfect holiness.  

The Valley of Vision, edited by Arthur Bennett, Banner of Truth, page 345.

That I may not violate my chaste union with the beloved;

Paul writes to the Corinthians (2 Cor. 11:1 - 3), “I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me. For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, so that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin. But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.”

John the Baptist said (John 3:28 - 30), “You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

One of the earliest songs I recall as a young Christian is, “Oh How I Love Jesus,” I especially recall singing it at a youth camp in the hills around Frostburg, Maryland. This past Sunday I sang it in a church in Prince George, VA. - decades and miles of life and roadways have not diminished the sweetness of that song, of those words, of the simple melody. This hymn is based on 1 John 4:10 and 19:

“In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins...We love, because He first loved us.”

The Great Commandment is that we love God with all that we are, and others as ourselves (Mark 12:28 - 31).

Paul desired that the Corinthians have a pure love for Jesus, have a pure relationship with Him; he emphasizes this with the words “pure virgin” - one would think that the word “virgin” in and of itself would be enough to make his point, but he wants to ensure that no one misses how emphatic he is, hence two words, “pure” and “virgin.” We, the church, are to have one Husband, Jesus Christ, and we are to be faithful in that relationship.

John the Baptist sees himself as Paul sees himself, as a friend of the Bridegroom; it was his mission to see others wedded to Christ, the Messiah, and to fade into the background, rejoicing in the marriage of the Lamb to His Bride. “He must increase, but I must decrease.”

Whose name am I concerned about people knowing? My name or the name of Jesus? Who do I want to draw attention to? Me or Jesus? Whose ministry am I concerned about? Mine or that of Jesus Christ?

To whom does my heart belong? Does it have many lovers? Does it love many things? Is it enamored with itself? Do I worship the image in the mirror or do I worship Jesus?

As I reflect over my journey, I wonder what happened to the purity of singing “Oh How I Love Jesus” for I think that I soon became enamoured of this doctrinal distinction and that experience and those forms of worship and certain religious “cultures” and...well...the list sadly goes on and on. I was taught to assimilate myself into a religious culture rather than love Jesus; I was taught to conform my actions to religious expectations but not seek God to, by His grace, conform my heart to the image of His Son.

To be sure I was only taught what others knew (and I think they did their best), and to be sure that experience is (hopefully) part of our pilgrimage - seeking the face of our Beloved. If earthly marriage is a lifetime of learning I suspect the same is true of our heavenly marriage to Christ - the difference being that in our heavenly marriage One is perfect...thankfully He is perfectly patient  and gracious and loving.

To seek a chaste union with Christ Jesus, to live within that chaste union - is there anything higher to seek than to know Jesus in purity and love and fidelity? To seek as individuals and to seek as His Bride?

How many times have I been promiscuous in seeking things other than Jesus? How many times have I sought significance outside of Him? How many times have I introduced “things” into the church that were not centered on Him? Well...I don’t know the answer to all those questions and I can but trust Christ to be merciful and redemptive.

Who does my heart belong to?

What about you?

Unconquered Territory (3)

Cast cords of love around my heart, then hold me and never let me go.

May the Saviour’s wounds sway me more than the sceptre of princes.

Let me love thee in a love that covers and swallows up all,

That I may not violate my chaste union with the beloved;

There is much unconquered territory in my nature,

Scourge out the buyers and sellers of my soul’s temple,

And give me in return, pure desires,

And longing after perfect holiness.  

The Valley of Vision, edited by Arthur Bennett, Banner of Truth, page 345.

Let me love thee in a love that covers and swallows up all…

One of the many things I love about swimming in the ocean is the experience of entering a vast body of water, vast beyond my comprehension, and yet for the few minutes I am in it I am momentarily a part of it. When I’m in the ocean I envision myself immersed in the love of God, I contemplate His great love for me, for us - it gives me an amazing peace.

Paul’s desire for the Ephesians (3:14 - 21) was that they would be “rooted and grounded in love” and that they would “comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” To be rooted in the love of God, to know the love of Christ - this is to be filled with all the fullness of God - this is to abide in the Trinity and to know the Trinity abiding in us. As the ocean covers and swallows up all that is in it, so does the above prayer desire that our love for God cover our existence, for as we receive His love as an ocean we can return that love to Him and share it with others.

Jesus (John 13:34-35) said the the distinguishing characteristic of His followers would be the love they have for one another. John writes (1 John 4:7), “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.” Jesus said (John 15:9), “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in my love.” We are loved with the love of the Trinity, and as we receive we are to give; give back to God, and give to others.

The love that Paul writes of in 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 is the love of God living in His people. The placement of this passage is deliberate, it serves as the core of Paul’s discussion of the Body of Christ, of life in the church, life together - it energizes chapters 12 and 15 - animating Paul’s teaching on church life and worship.

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

I want love to cover my life as the waters cover the sea; I want to love God like that, I want to love others like that. I think there have been times I’ve paid lip service to 1 Corinthians Chapter 13, there have been times I’ve actually functionally disagreed with it.

If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

The fact is there have been many times I’ve been more concerned about being “right” than loving, there have been times I’ve cared more for “knowledge” than for love. While I love the thought-world, the world of intellect and reasoning and understanding, I have been slow to realize that Paul was right - without love all that we “know” doesn’t really mean a thing.

While I have learned many things from many people, the people I’ve known that have been the most “other” than me are not the ones who know more (of which there are myriad), but rather the ones who have lived lives of love, who exemplify 1 Corinthians Chapter 13. Those are the ones who humble me, those are the ones beyond my experience, beyond my understanding - and isn’t that the way it should be since the love they exhibit is the love of God?

The prayer I pray every morning is that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit will teach me to love them with all that I have and all that I am, with all of my heart, mind, soul, and strength; and to love my neighbor as myself. Whatever I may not know intellectually can probably wait until I leave this earth, before too long I’ll have those questions answered - but I don’t want to wait to learn how to love God and others.

What about you?

Unconquered Territory (2)

Cast cords of love around my heart, then hold me and never let me go.

May the Saviour’s wounds sway me more than the sceptre of princes.

Let me love thee in a love that covers and swallows up all,

That I may not violate my chaste union with the beloved;

There is much unconquered territory in my nature,

Scourge out the buyers and sellers of my soul’s temple,

And give me in return, pure desires,

And longing after perfect holiness.  

The Valley of Vision, edited by Arthur Bennett, Banner of Truth, page 345.

May the Saviour’s wounds sway me more than the sceptre of princes. We can be easily impressed by fame, power, position, possessions - but are we impressed by the sacrificial love of Jesus Christ? What causes our hearts to bow? What demands our attention and focus? What do we think about? What is there in our lives that we simply cannot ignore? What is the compass by which we navigate?

How do the wounds of Jesus compare to the “bling” that impresses us?

While we may not live in a land that has traditional “princes” with “sceptres” - we live in both a land and world that has their equivalent; princes in politics, princes in entertainment, princes in business, princes in science, princes in education, princes in sports; we mimic these princes in our associations - from the job to the the garden club to youth sports to...sadly at times...the church. We are easily impressed, easily swayed, easily taught to imitate the princes and princesses of our society.

The closer the average person gets to the center of power, the greater the seduction to fall under the sway of that power and the greater the temptation to assimilate that power to our own advantage. Who would not prefer to be associated with power and its trappings and perquisites rather than be identified with a Man hanging on a Cross who is wounded and bleeding and virtually naked and dying? When the writer of Hebrews suggests that we ought to go “outside the camp” bearing the reproach of Jesus (Hebrews 13:13) we do not stop to ponder the exhortation lest it affect our daily lives - better to keep a private relationship (if it can be called that) with the Wounded One than to be publicly identified with Him.

Perhaps the greatest evangelist of the 20th Century wrote to the effect that one of the greatest mistakes he made was getting too close to the power of the presidency - so close that he did not think critically about what he was told, about what he saw. (Ironically, many have not learned from his admission).

What is our North Star? What or who are we identified with? How do we think about ourselves? How do we think about Jesus Christ and His command to take up our cross and follow Him...denying ourselves (Mark 8:34-38)?

Our idols cannot love us. Power cannot love us. Money cannot love us. Fame cannot love us. Education cannot love us. The love of others, as deep and as sincere as it might be - and let’s face it, sincerity and depth of love is rare - has its fractured human limitations; but the Man on the Cross, the Son of God, bears wounds which call out to us, “I love you! I love you! I love you!”

Jesus does not send us a box of chocolates, He does not send us a pretty greeting card, He does not send us cut flowers - He gives us Himself, God gives us His Son - bloody, wounded, and dying on the Cross on Good Friday...Resurrected from the Tomb on Easter.

Shall we say, “Lord Jesus, let my heart be more than swayed by You, let it captured by You, by Your love; teach me to love You, and to love others in You and through You.”

Unconquered Territory (1)

Cast cords of love around my heart, then hold me and never let me go.

May the Saviour’s wounds sway me more than the scepter of princes.

Let me love thee in a love that covers and swallows up all,

That I may not violate my chaste union with the beloved;

There is much unconquered territory in my nature,

Scourge out the buyers and sellers of my soul’s temple,

And give me in return, pure desires,

And longing after perfect holiness.  

The Valley of Vision, edited by Arthur Bennett, Banner of Truth, page 345.

The above excerpt evokes many Biblical images and paradigms. I’m reminded of Psalm 139:23 - 24: “Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

Then there is Psalm 19:12 - 14: “Who can understand his errors? Cleanse me from secret faults. Keep back Your servant also from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me. Then I shall be blameless, and I shall be innocent of great transgression. Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my strength and my Redeemer.”

Only God truly knows us, we can only see ourselves as God gives us light and grace; thankfully He is merciful in how He reveals Himself to us and how He shows us who we are - both within Him and without Him; I do not think we are capable of seeing just who we are in our "unnatural" state of sin - it is too hideous to be revealed in its fullness - so He shows us enough for us to know that we desperately need Him...which is also enough for us to choose to love the hideous and reject Him in favor of ourselves. There is enough light for those to see who desire to see, and there is enough darkness for those to live in darkness who want to run and hide from the light. As an old adage goes, the same sun that melts the wax hardens the clay.

Cast cords of love around my heart, then hold me and never let me go. The Gospel is about the love of God, a love with form and substance. God desires us to be captivated by His love for us in Christ, to be bound to Him in love. His love for us is so great that it is the very same love with which He loves His Son (John 17), we need not fear this love, we need not hesitate to accept it, we should not think that such love cannot possibly be true, and we should not push God’s love away - God wants us to experience His amazing love and He wants to draw us into a deeply intimate relationship with Jesus Christ and with each other in Christ. When we come into a relationship with Jesus Christ God’s love is “poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5). It is good to remember everyday of our lives that “God is love” (1 John 4:8).

“Holy Father, teach us to accept and to trust Your love for us in Jesus Christ. Help us to trust You when You, in Your kind mercy, show us things within ourselves that we need to confess and to repent; help us to seek Your empowering grace that we might be more like Jesus today than we were yesterday. Envelop us in Your love, and may Your love flow through us to others and may we love You with all that we have and all that we are.”

Impaired Vision

As I was pondering Clovis’s vision quandry (see previous post) which he brought upon himself, it occurred to me that we all have impaired vision - whether or not we wear glasses. We simply can’t “see” things around us, we can’t see people, we can’t see circumstances, and for sure we can’t really see ourselves...no matter how many mirrors may be on our walls. At our best we have impaired vision, at our worst we have warped vision with ourselves at the center. 

If it is hard to see things as others see them, it is particularly difficult to see things as God sees them; so it seems that a good dose of humility is in order as we view our world and as we seek God. The problem with humility is that we must somehow escape the black hole of “self” which insists on drawing all things and people into itself in order to get its own way - I don’t think we are capable of doing this. This gives us another reason to seek the Christ of the Cross - the One who says that if we are to follow Him that we must deny ourselves...surely He will show the Way, surely He will teach us how to deny ourselves, to escape the slavery of “self”. But of course it is difficult when we all want to be “American Idols” - whether on stage, at work, in a family, with friends, playing sports (or living through our children as they work at sports), or in academics - or sadly in church...there is no place where we are not tempted to idolatry in one form or another; we may not all be tempted in all places, but we are all tempted in some places.

God gives us His Word to correct our vision. To be sure there are many times we cannot see what God sees, we cannot see what His Word tells us; but we can still trust His vision the way a pilot trusts his instruments in zero visibility, or the way a pilot trusts an air-traffic controller when the pilot’s instruments are out and he is flying in zero visibility. When we insist on flying by trusting in our own impaired vision we will crash, and usually when we crash we will hurt others. 

“The precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; The commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes” (Psalm 19:8). As we obey God’s commandments, as we meditate in His Word, our eyes will enlightened, our understanding will grow - we will see more clearly and we will better understand what we see. 

“Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity, And revive me in Your ways” (Psalm 119:37). What we focus our attention on draws us to itself and becomes embedded within us. Just as video pulls people into itself (How many people turn on the TV to watch “just a few minutes” and hours later are still watching in a trance? How many of us turn the computer on for “just a few minutes” and hours later cannot account for our time?) so what we focus the eyes of our hearts and minds on transforms us into its image - when we are caught in the tractor beam of toxicity we need to cry out to God, “Turn away my eyes from looking at vanity!”

In John Chapter Nine we read, And Jesus said, “For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may become blind.” Those of the Pharisees who were with Him heard these things and said to Him, “We are not blind too, are we?” Jesus said to them, “If you were blind, you would have no sin; but since you say, ‘We see,’ your sin remains.

So I think we are better off to admit our blindness, our propensity to view all things in relation to ourselves, to acknowledge that sin has clouded our vision, and to seek renewed vision in God’s Word in Christ. I need to remind myself that I don’t see the entire picture and that I need God and others to help me to see things that I cannot see clearly. This is true of us as individuals and it is also true of groups - of families, churches, schools, businesses - for groups of people experience their own collective blindness. 

Of course, to avail myself of the perspectives of others I must take time to listen, to ask questions, to ask clarifying questions, and to ponder. I must also learn to trust, to be sure the vision of some folks is not to be trusted, but that should not preclude me from learning to trust others, to learn from them, to learn with them. 

And of course - God and His Word are always to be trusted...even when we don’t understand...even when we are afraid...as a rule...the more we trust God the more we will see, the more we obey His Word the more of His Word we will see...as the writer of Hebrews encourages us (Hebrews 12:2)...let our eyes always be “looking unto Jesus” - for in Him we will find clarity of vision, in Him we will experience transformation, in Him we can help one another “see”. 

Clovis and His Glasses

The other morning my cousin Clovis awoke in somewhat of a stupor. Seems he was up late the night before watching a triple-overtime college basketball game, and then woke up in the middle of the night with a sinus headache. At 5:30 A.M. his two Saint Bernards slobbered all over him, letting him know that he’d slept in and that they needed to go outside, he was - to hear him tell it - in a haze, a fog, a stupor, as he fumbled for his glasses.

Now normally, as he tells it, he puts his glasses on once he is out of bed, but this particular morning he reached for his glasses on the nightstand and put them on while still in bed. The problem was that the two beasts were still licking him, insistent that he arise, walk, and open the door. There was no abatement of the licking, even after the glasses were placed on their master’s face - they gave the glasses a Niagara of slobbering. Having myself witnessed the massive amounts of drool that these behemoths are capable of producing, I can easily picture the result, as told to me by Clovis - he couldn’t see, his vision was worse than a blurr, it was if sheets of rain were plummeting a car’s windshield on an interstate highway.

Clovis got out of bed, felt his way through the bedroom, down the hall, to the front door. He opened the door and, once the beasts exited to attend to their morning routine, Clovis went to the half-bath in the hallway and reached for the bottle of lens cleaner kept in the bottom of the vanity. He sprayed the lens cleaner on his glasses, took a tissue from the tissue box on the vanity, wiped the lens cleaner from his glasses and then put them on - what was once blurred vision now became opaque vision; in fact, he could see no better with the glasses on than with them off. At this point the dogs starting barking at the front door, wanting back inside. Not wanting the barking to wake his wife he hurried out of the bathroom to get to the door - he was so disoriented and confused and concerned about his vision that as he was feeling his way down the hallway he forgot that the door to the basement stairs was normally open, and when his hand - which had been running along the wall to give him a sense of stability - hit the open space of the open door he lost his balance and fell four steps down to the landing.

As Clovis was trying to collect his wits, which I imagine had spilled down the stairs into the basement, he heard Francine’s footsteps heading to the front door. Then her voice as the door opens, “What is going on here! What are you two doing outside? Where is your father? Is he out there? How long have you poor things been outside trying to get in?”

“Clovis, where are you? Clovis? Where are you?”

“I’m here.”

“Where?”

“Here.”

“Where’s here?”

As Francine tells it, she looked down the basement stairs, turned the light on in the stairway, and saw Clovis sitting on the landing. He looked like a mess.

“Did you sleep there? Did you leave the dogs out all night? What’s the matter with you? I’ve got to get dressed and go to work, I don’t have the day off like some people. Couldn’t you hear the dogs barking? I bet they woke the neighbors up. What are people going to think?”

“Francine, I think you may need to take me to the doctor. Something has happened to my vision.”

“Well put your glasses on.”

“They are on, can’t you see? They aren’t helping. I can’t see with them and I can’t see without them. I had a terrible headache in the middle of the night, I thought it was a sinus headache, but maybe it’s something else that’s affecting my vision.”

To hear Clovis tell it, Francine’s tone of voice changed from irritated to compassionate and she went down to the landing and helped Clovis to his feet. To hear Francine tell it her tone of voice had been concerned and compassionate from the beginning. She guided Clovis up the stairs, into the kitchen, and to a chair at the kitchen table. In the meantime the dogs were whining, wanting to be fed.

“Let me take care of the dogs, just sit there.”

“I can’t imagine what happened. It must be related to the headache.”

“Were you in the recipe last night after I went to bed?”

“I haven’t touched the recipe for months.”

As Francine fed the dogs Clovis sat perplexed and confused, wondering what had happened to his vision.  Finally she walked over to him and took a good look at her husband - “What in the world have you done to your glasses?”

“What do you mean?”

“No wonder you can’t see, they are covered in something.”

“The dogs slobbered on them in the bedroom, after I let them out I cleaned them with the lens cleaner in the half-bath.”

“Really?”

Francine walked to the bath, grabbed a spray can from the sink top, and walked back to the kitchen.

“So you cleaned your glasses with lens cleaner?”

“Yes.”

“Where did you put it when you were done?”

“I probably left it on the top of the vanity.”

Francine placed the spray can on the kitchen table - it was hair spray.

“Give me your glasses and I’ll clean them up.”

Clovis surrendered his glasses, Francine washed them with Dawn and water, then cleaned them with lens cleaner - not with hair spray.

“Before I give you your glasses back I want to try something.” What that she sprayed Clovis’s hair with lens cleaner - not hair spray.

“Hey, what are you doing!”

“Oh, I thought that if I sprayed lens cleaner on your head that maybe you’d see things more clearly, think more clearly - is it helping?”