Castles In The Air

Castles in the Air

A tall fence rings a construction site the size of a city block. The fence bears images of the unbuilt coming attraction: a condominium, pedestrian center, and retail village combo with Tuscan influences and a breezy California name. The dirt beyond this barrier once supported a quirky retail strip from the 1940s. (My hometown doesn’t get too sentimentally attached to its older buildings.)

With no “steak” to see beyond the fence, the “sizzle” is screened onto it in large, lush photographs with choice verbiage. The models in the photos are expensively dressed and perfectly groomed. Their surroundings are more opulent than their clothing. “Dream lifestyle fulfilled,” one section of the fence promises. “No weekdays . . . only weekends,” says another. Now I’m a poet at heart, and I don’t expect every message offered to be a literal one. But no Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, ever? I understand the subtext: every day will seem like the days you most enjoy. But I happen to think some of those middling, ordinary days can be pretty fine too.

More promises are made about this coming castle in the air. “Where romantic tomorrows become reality,” reads one message. “Where you get younger every year,” boasts another. (What? Is a Botox clinic planned for the retail village somewhere? Or perhaps a tiny fountain of youth in an aisle of the promised “haute couture grocery”?)

The fence, I have decided, is really selling dreams. Desires. But all that it presently hides from peering eyes is a lot of graded dirt. The last message I saw on the canvas of the fence said, “Totally refined living.” No variation. No speck of the unexpected. No surprises. Just luxury and ease, utter refinement, all the time.

Even if I could afford a home in this upscale development, I’m actually dreaming of something a little bolder. Something hard won (but not by me) and a lot truer. A very different kind of “Master-planned” community. It’s been prepared for me, and I’ll recognize it when I see it. I won’t even need to read the signs on the fence to know I’m home.

They were looking for a better place, a heavenly homeland. That is why God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.

Hebrews 11:16