One Thousand Years
Genesage
"Class Begins"
(Chp3:11)
A gentle breeze again blew through the room;
this time Rose was obvious on the breeze.
Eben whispered a quick blessing of thanks for taking away every undeveloped thorn and making it now a bloom. Blooms in Gods Creative Splendor were allowed the full potential and design to grow. To reach the full potential, design and purpose it was intended. In this case the rose grew to perfume the air with sweet aroma as an offering to the Creator.
You’re Welcome.,
Unconsciously came to his mind.
Can someone go to the Bloom of the Rose and take an offering according to what we have discussed and bring it back here for all to share?"
Eben asked .
"I will,"
Piped up Apple with a quick start,
But Tom had already bolted out the door.
No doubt bored, He was looking for something to do other than participate in the “Daily Class.”
Thomas hurried and left abruptly. A few minutes later Eben grimaced as if in pain. After that Tom returned with a dozen branches full of blooms that seemingly began to fill the room with wonder. A general amazement was felt by the class at the color, bouquet and variety. The entire room was immediately transformed.
Tom made as if to offer them to Eben.
Rather than take them immediately, Eben bowed his head looking down as he sat and seemed to grow old before their eyes. Not looking up he asked,
"The Grapes I gave you this morning were they an offering or a sacrifice?"
A troubled look passed Tom's eyes.
He realized this wasn't the response he expected. The ‘air’ in the room changed. Looking around at the group sitting down, he searched for an answer rather than reply himself.
Everyone at the table seemed as confused as Tom. Some were still admiring the blooms in his arms. Some watching the mini-drama, others began to shift their attention to Eben.
Tom stood there puzzled and wondering what to do next.
Eben rose from the table and laid a hand upon Caleb’s shoulder in rising as if to pull himself up. He walked around the table slowly. He went across room to where Tom was standing with his roses. Looking Tom in the eye he held him in his gaze till Tom looked away.
The room had gone silent and all eyes were on the two men.
Then Eben said
"Thank You.",
And took the roses.
An almost audible sigh went up from the room.
It had seemed as though everyone had held their breath for a moment and now could breathe again. As if coddling a child, Eben held the Roses in the crook of his arm and looked down upon them. You could almost imagine a baby in his arms.
Without looking up, gazing intently at the blooms he said,
"Perhaps what I should have said is …, what should have been an offering has now become a sacrifice."
Tom went and sat down quickly to escape the watching group. He seemed to shrink in his seat. All of a sudden He did not want any attention at all. He didn't glance at anyone but merely waited and listened not daring to say a word. If he had some place to go, he would have gone there, but all he could do was wait on Eben.
Immediately the philosopher Donald McVivor questioned,
"Why"
Nehevivor groaned. Ezravivor his brother gave him a look. Had they been sitting together rather than slightly apart, instead of a look it might have been something more physical.
"Let’s see why."
Eben was famous for taking the extra time out of the day to "teach, talk, preach, explain, and draw pictures".
As if that wasn't enough for some, and not enough for others, He also had a habit of pulling similes, making metaphors, of deriving lessons, elucidating explanations, and examining examples out of thin air.
This sometimes made a one hour class a much longer learning opportunity.
"He thinks we're children."
Delilah whispered almost loud enough to be heard.
Not waiting for a response, Eben had already headed out the door brushing through the long strands of vine that served as the doorway. As the others rose to follow him, smiling with a twinkle in his eye,
Caleb replied,
"Didn't King Jesus Y'shua once say "except you become as little children".
"He didn't mean literally,"
Added Brother Michael speaking up for the first time that day.
'Oh?! "
Added Abdullahvivor who couldn't resist what he saw coming.
"Yes he did",
"No he didn't",
"Its simile….,"
"A metaphor.”
"No one knows anymore"
"Yes they do",
"We can ask Him."
"Yeah right go to Jerusalem to ask what He meant"…,
The “opinion pool” had taken off and everyone was talking at once.
"Well I know what he meant and He wants us to be as Children.”
Stated Nehevivor as though he had the final word.
"No.",
EzraVivor said,
It became obvious these strong characters were brothers.
The twelve rose and followed.
Each person had their own opinion about the question that had been asked. As often was the case, they were now talking about everything or anything except what had just occurred.
After all…, it was still early in the day.
The path from the Living Sukkah, the Morning Meeting room, wound around a small rise descending from the house Eben had made with his own hands.
Seemingly "grown" from the very hillside it combined natural stone with those He had added and his shelter house seemed to possess all manner of living natural elements.
An old stone cottage in what once was Ireland would have been jealous. Various plants, trees, vines seemed to have co-labored with him to make themselves coverage of roofs and shade as well as ample room for breezes. Eco-friendly didn’t cut it, but somehow the house he dwelt in felt “alive” as though everything in it were “living” in some way.
Eben claimed that if the weather ever did change and it became cold or extreme He would ask his house to adjust for it and it would. Sometimes Eben said things that were hard to understand. If you thought of the house as living and alive that might not seem so strange though as all the dwelling places that were now inhabited Eben had structured.
Looking at Eben’s Place, it was idyllic.
A Monstrous Weeping Willow stood on the crest of the “hill” with long tendrils reaching down to Eben's. Standing nearby, three cedars guarded the willow on the North. A stand of Quaking Aspens watched from the west. Nearby his "house" a natural spring gave birth to a pond that spilled over to a tiny creek that flowed into a mini lake with a rocky outcrop in the center He often called his Patmos.
No one had been there but it was rumored a cave was there. Eben was said to go there to be alone.
Animal life was prevalent.
Since God had returned to Earth, no animal killed each other. It was rumored some Survivors still wanted meat. They still had some learning to go through as no one considered hunting or eating meat.
When a Lion walked by a lamb and looked at you and smiled it seemed to destroy the whole image of ferocity. Of course some of the more humorous stories were about a Survivor looking at a cow and thinking steak.
The Cow it is said looked him in the eye and said,
“Don’t even think about it.”
Animals seemed to be one of Ebens pet teaching methods. One day in class an episode occurred.
One of his students had suddenly been swept over with emotion and in gratitude had hugged Eben. At first rather intimately, then realized what she was doing, and shifted her shoulder and turned her body to give a "more appropriate hug” as she had learned from someone somewhere called a "church hug".
Eben had been quite startled by the change from real hug to a façade of one.
He paused a moment and after a minute or two said,
"When you hug, you should mean it.
If you were passionate about a hug I suppose you would call it a bear hug where you just wrap the person up and smother them.
Is that right?
RachaelVivor who had been the woman who had hugged Eben and then became embarrassed said,
"Well Yes..,
Five minutes later,
Eben simply said,
"That's what I call a bear hug."
Needless to say the class and poor Rachaelvivor knew exactly what a Bear hug was.
No one ever looked at any of the animals again in quite the same way.
Of course no one ever saw the Brown Bear again that had charged into the room suddenly. It/he had stood up on its haunches and wrapped both Eben and Rachaevivor in a real hug.
Eben's classes or meetings were always like that, full of surprises.
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