A City View

A City View

We are not what we know but what we are willing to learn. —Mary Catherine Bateson

LIKE SOME OTHER WOMEN, I often have to share my husband’s attention with another. Luckily for us both, Steve’s mistress is a new project. Occasionally the new venture is a sexy piece of metal with an engine that purrs, but usually she sports “good bones” and lots of windows.

It all begins with simple infatuation. While reading the sensual description of marvelous homes in the paper’s real estate section, Steve will often mutter “mmm” under his breath. The serious flirting continues at the bookstore, where he’ll pick up architectural magazines and books, studying their centerfolds with lust. I recognize the affair is escalating when we head to an open house. It’s out of control when he requests a personal introduction to the beauty by her agent.

By now, I know this dance well. Yet this affair took on a whole new meaning when we decided to move from our single-family home on “Leave It to Beaver Lane” to a multifamily dwelling in the city. Move number seven is scheduled to occur in just six months, when we move into our new high-rise condo in the heart of downtown Dallas.

While our condo is being constructed, we’ve made a high-rise apartment in the Uptown section of Dallas our temporary home. Perched 120 feet in the air, we look out into the night sky of twinkling lights and artfully lit high-rise buildings that reflect perfect Indian-summer sunsets.

Coinciding with this move, my friend Gretchen invited Steve and me to volunteer with her and some of her other friends at the Dallas homeless shelter known as The Bridge. Less than three miles away from our home, the shelter offers a strikingly different city view. Standing less than twelve inches away from poverty, I see things I’ve never seen before. The lights are on here too. And this view also takes my breath away and makes my heart pound.

Nothing is as I would have thought.

God blesses those who hunger and thirst for justice, for they will be satisfied. (Matthew 5:6)

Over the next several pages I will take you along on my city-living adventure. I want to share with you the view I now see with new eyes. And I’ll also share the message of hope that twinkles here—if we’ll just spend the time to take in the view.