Iwanabea deck prism.

A couple of friends and I were on a week-long mission trip. On day three, we began an elongated conversation looking for phrases or words we have heard or used that aren’t words at all but a local blurred-together combination of words. One example that passed around a few years ago was “Jaeatyet?”  and the accompanying response, “No. Ju?” As you know, this is, “Have you eaten yet?” “No. Have you?”

Iwanabea is one of those one-word concoctions, which in this instance is translated as “I want to be a…” (The truth is I made it up just for this blog.)

My spiritual journey can be traced in my journaling through the continual metamorphosis of my “life purpose statement.” Over the past ten months, I have refined my life purpose: “I want to be a deck prism.”  This is not so much of a statement for character change as it is a prayer of supplication to God. I do not want to be a piece of glass. I really like being a human.

Thoughts seldom come to me directly. They are more like flies that enter through holes in the window screens. They just appear before me. This deck prism idea first saw the light of my cognitive processing while reflecting on the Sermon on the Mount. I have given a considerable amount of time over the last year and a half with the idea of mind-melding with Matthew as he mind-melded with Jesus. My desire is to see the world around me as Jesus taught Matthew to see the world around him. Which ultimately means seeing the world as Jesus saw and continues to see. 

In the past, I have often heard, and even testified, that a believer should strive to be like a mirror that reflects God’s love to the world. In this prolonged dip into Matthew 5-7, that has changed. I started thinking that I would rather be a glass window through which Jesus could shine his light that was in me out to the world around me.

Then I saw a picture of a prism dispersing a beam of light into its full spectrum of colors creating a rainbow. In this line of thought, I imagined each part of a life, the good, bad, and ugly, revealing to the world the presence of Jesus in this time and space.

I mentioned this to my Friday morning Bible study group. The following Friday, Jim W. brought a show-and-tell, a “deck prism” he had purchased when visiting the Mystic Seaport Museum in Connecticut. I was so impressed that I went home, went to the website, and ordered one. It now sits on my fireplace mantel.

In the days of old tall sailing ships, a specially designed prism was mounted on the deck of a ship to allow sunlight to reach the dark spaces below deck providing the sailors with enough light to navigate in the below-deck gloom. The pyramid prism shape would refract the sunlight into many directions rather than in a single column straight down. It wasn’t much light, but it was safer than candles and oil lamps.

(There is an interesting description and short video at https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/xmurfy/why_is_the_glass_of_a_ships_deck_prism_that/?rdt=46049)

BEAKING NEWS ALERT – The Jan and Fred Clan has been running a text messaging thread for several years. It is called “the best fam ever.” You are included in the thread when you are old enough to get a phone. It doesn’t matter if you want to or are not, you’re included! Our youngest daughter, Dawn, sent the following last night: “Where do rainbows go if they break the law?” We waited for her to give the answer: “To prism. It’s a light sentence, but it gives them time to reflect.”

NOW BACK TO OUR REGULAR SCHEDULED PROGRAMING

I don’t think I will ever be “just like Jesus.” But it is important for me to remember that “just like” is not the goal. My perfection would only alienate troubled and troubling people.

As Jesus asserts his life in and through us, a manifestation of his kindness, generosity, and grace will encourage other followers and serve as a beacon of light to those feeling stuck in their below-deck darkness.

Matthew 5:14-16

14 “You are the light of the world. A city situated on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 No one lights a lamp and puts it under a basket, but rather on a lampstand, and it gives light for all who are in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before men, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. (HCSB)

Photo – I inverted the picture to show what it would look like if it were installed in a ship deck, point down into the gloom.