It is Five-Minute Friday. A one-word prompt and five minutes to write. Today's prompt is
LEARN
Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?
Brace yourself like a man; I will question you,
and you shall answer me.
Job 38:2-3
"The sun rises and the sun sets. Between the days, lie the nights, silky and soft, distant stars punctuate the heavens, each rising and setting, rising and setting."
"Any fool know this. What did you learn?"
"Mountains ascend and they fall. Ocean waves travel without wind, soaring in mighty crests and collapsing upon land. Currents glide through the deep, slide through the deep, carve tunnels of change through the deep, stirring the great waters of the world.
An imperceptible shake, an impatient blink. "Not these. These are known. What did you learn?"
"Green things grow, they twine, they stretch, they establish roots into the earth and thus anchored, they reach for the light. Seas swarm with life of all shapes and sizes. Life that swims, that floats, that crawls across the ocean floor. Beasts of the land roam wide plains, cross turbulent rivers, bathe in calm pools and sleep in leafy bowers. Segmented creatures scurry and squirm, spin webs of great beauty, and flutter on jeweled wings. Birds, large and small, fly and soar through the skies, cloaked in satin feathers and warm down. Fur and skin, claw and tooth, antennae, feelers, mandibles, eyes and ears. The earth is filled with such as these."
"And...man? What did you learn of my children?"
Confusion.
"Wars and poverty continue. I have seen pockets of kindness, acts of unselfish love. I feel mankind's jealousy, anger, bitterness. I hear your children's prayers. Their pleading. I hear groaning both in pleasure and pain. They eat and they sleep. Some more and some less. What do you want me to tell you?"
Silence.
"There is nothing new under the sun."
"Then you must look beyond the sun.
Do not be afraid.
I am the First and the Last.
I am the Living One;
I was dead, and now look,
I am alive for ever and ever!
And I hold the keys of death and Hades.
Learn through me."
