I watched the shivering platform move with the wind. The window cleaners were doing their best to get their job done but the environment was conspiring against them. The increasing wind meant that the calm, stable platform that they had used earlier in the day was anything but. My eyes refused to leave the scene.
How does someone work on a platform with nothing below for hundreds of feet? Having wrestled with a fear of heights for most of my life, I guess that one builds up an immunity to fear and accepts the reality of what is. The idea that I would put myself on the edge, trusting my life to a series of cables anchored somewhere out of sight is not one that I would willingly take.
What do you do when you normal situation changes due to factors out of your control? Is one willing to accept that one’s fate is under the influence of something that you cannot see? Whatever courage I might muster to get out on the platform would disappear quickly with the slightest movement of wind.
I watched with interest. I could not see any signs of fear. There were no obvious movements of concern. The participants in the scene were taking it all in as if it was normal! I could not imagine a universe where I could be one of these participants.
I close my eyes and look back on the scene. I realized that I am frequently a window washer. I know that I am not always a willing participant. I know others can see my fears, doubts, and uncertainties. It is as if the window washers have discovered a connection and source of protection that I am missing. Paraphrasing an old writer, I think of their strength admire their courage “before the rush and roar of oceans, the tremors that shift mountains. Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, God of angel armies protects us.” (Psalm 46.3)
I refocus and notice that my windows need cleaning. It time to find the connection and get on with it.
