The Windows of God
by guyburke@yahoo.com
>> Version 104 <<
Riddle: How can you finish the "never ending story?" Answer: You write the ending first.
So here is the end of the matter: Grand is the vista when you open the windows of God. They take your breath away.
# # #
This "never ending story" will draw upon the flexibility of online technology for non-linear editing. I plan to insert graphics and expand the text from time to time. Feel free to check back for updates.
Some years ago I lost a dream job because of bipolar disorder. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone. Yet I appreciate the lessons I learned. After treatment and rehabilitation, I accepted a new job in phone sales with some trepidation. Could I handle the conflict, interruptions and pressure? In my weakened psychological state, I needed props and support. These I found in an unlikely source, the majestic name of the ever living God.
Ironically, many people are forbidden to write or speak the name of God. What a loss. For his name is more than a mere identifier. It is a both a promise and a checklist reminder for utilizing his dynamic powers.
Meet YHWH. This name for God has been shrouded in mystery so long that no one even knows how to pronounce it for sure. (I lean toward “Yahweh” -- however that is pronounced). And if someone could pronounce it correctly, many others would condemn them for taking the name of God in vain. But embedded in its original Hebrew spelling are a guiding hand, two windows to freedom and a never ending promise. It’s as sure as yesterday, as certain as tomorrow and as immediate as a checklist.
How can the name of God enable a psychologically challenged person to hold down a frenetic job for 9 years?
THE PROMISE
One unique property of the great name, YHWH is the verb form promise it holds. The name is made up of an anagram of the verb “to be” as written in Hebrew. Without getting overly technical, I’ll simply say Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey (The Hebrew equivalents for YHWH) are a somewhat dyslexic scramble of AM, WAS and WILL BE in Hebrew. In English, I have referred to this name as Lord Wasistocome. (See “Meaning and Etymology” under the article “Tetragrammaton” in the Jewish Encyclopedia - http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/14346-tetragrammaton).
To me YHWH is a promise from God. It proclaims, “I was there in the past and issued your permission to exist. I am here at present helping you continue. And I will be there in the future to affirm your right to proceed.”
THE CHECKLIST
These same letters which spell Wasistocome also make up a compelling checklist.
To understand the process and the reasoning behind it, you need to visualize the picture symbols for each Hebrew character in the name YHWH. As school children appreciate, each letter of the alphabet draws a simplified picture of an object. 
[Graphic inserted. Online picture is sometimes slow to load]
Yod is hand. Hey is window and Vav is hook (as well as the whole word “and.”) Thus YHWH portrays a hand directing us to the window which is hooked to another window. How can such information serve as a practical tool?
I love the Hebrew language. Years ago in college I took two semesters from a former Rabbinical candidate, Mark Kaplan. He was steeped in the culture of the language and inspired a deep appreciation and awe. In subsequent years I proceeded to read the entire Old Testament and even the New Testament in Hebrew. To further solidify my comprehension, I wrote out the book of Psalms by hand in this ancient language. Therein resides a wealth of knowledge, understanding and wisdom. (But even with all this study, I still feel like an early grade school student in the subject.)
The usefulness of Yod-Hey-Vav-Hey from the name of God is almost limitless. For me, the key to understanding emerges from that symbol which appears twice, Hey for window. What happens at a window? It lets in light. It lets out light. It lets in air. It lets out air. It lets sound pass. It lets creatures pass. The window is a portal from here to there. Through it we share resources and knowledge.
Example: Window and Window remind me to take a brief moment during times of stress to breath in and breath out deliberately. Breathing properly? Check. Such visceral connection flows straight from scripture. For truly in Him “we live and move and have our being.” (Acts 17.28)
Also, my right brain window displays the big picture and feels the emotion of the moment, but I need to wait for my left brain window to discern controlling logic and details. We all see with the eyes in the immediate moment at our present location. But do we remember to look into our memory window to scan past experience from far and wide? Window and Window reminds me to hold down the window of fantasy until I can lift the window of reality.
Life favors pairs. Eyes, ears, hands, legs, feet, genders, hemispheres, polarity, yin-yang all come in pairs. Two eyes on the x-y plane create depth perception in the y axis. Ditto for hearing. Two is more than the sum of its parts. Window-Window in the name of God steers us toward success -- if we only allow.
THE WINDOW AS A TOOL
For me Hand-Window-Plus-Window (Lord Wasistocome) promotes job survival by helping me sort out what was from what is from what needs to come. This has grown into a reliable system for transforming non linear time fragments into sequential tasks.
Look at the picture below: At the very center of this time tag system is His name written as Hl <<< date >>> H’ on the blue line. These four characters, HlH’, read backward from right to left, are the nearest representation you can get to the Hebrew spelling of YHWH with an English keyboard. I divided them up with the date because I wanted to dwell and work in the very heart of God’s presence. There I feel safe.
[Graphic inserted. Online picture is sometimes slow to load]
Working outward from the middle, this one continuous document is then split into two Window views. (Where did I ever get an idea like that?). The top is a minute by minute log of today’s activity that grows throughout the day to become a permanent record. The lower Window is a list of client note clusters scheduled for contact later today or the near future according to priority. Once acted upon, these reminders will be cut and pasted into the log window above with a new, sequential time stamp.
Complexity is mere simplicity stitched together over and over. This highly focused, dual view of my current moment in time also interacts with a calendar appointment program, emailer, contact database, word processor and printed notes attached to goods and documents. At first this system may look overly detailed and more trouble than it’s worth. But the sum of the parts becomes exponentially more useful in preventing redundancy and confusion. Regardless of how many interruptions I experience, I can always go back to the royal blue line in the presence of Lord Wasistocome at the precise moment of now and find my place.
A career that could drive me back to the institution with endless details and interruptions has become worthwhile psychological therapy. It hasn’t really paid well. But then, I could have spent thousands of dollars to achieve the same mental rehabilitation that this fellowship with YHWH has afforded. His great hand to the upper window connected to the lower window has literally guided me along to sanity in a chaotic work environment.
Handle the present with enthusiasm.
Face the past with gratitude.
Prepare the future with faith.
Lord Wasistocome
“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.”
Psalm 91.14
KEYBOARD WINDOWS
Isn’t it interesting that the entire software industry is fixated on Windows? There’s even a button on most computer keyboards with the window icon. Back in 1988 Apple Computer sued Microsoft for copyright infringement over the use of windows on screen. That suit lasted until 1994 with Microsoft prevailing. Hewlett-Packard and Xerox even got into the fray. I would suppose that God holds an even better case for the concept since he has been using windows in his very name for thousands of years.
Despite the proliferation of windows and tabs on the typical computer screen, there are only two windows of immediate interest. They are the origin (source) and the next destination. Like so many windows in life, you can simplify the issue down to “where am I now and where do I want to be next?”
OUTCOMES
Here now is another use of this twin tool, Window. We have seen that YHWH is linked to the time concept of Wasistocome. So it is no surprise that the dual windows in his name are linked to past and future. The Vav character between the two windows (the Hebrew word for “and”) links the flowing moment in time between future and past we call now.
(Sections under development)
Consider the end of the matter
If/then anticipatory brain wave - http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090226093429.htm
Action/reaction (mic switch) - action/follow thru
Mirrors & reflections
A walk with God. Pace Weston
Think before you speak/act
Song
“THE END” OF THE NEVER ENDING STORY
I have characterized this twin action plan from the name of God as a never ending story because there is no end of utilization. As persistent as a song in the head and the heart, this tool from God resonates from past to “forever some more” (as my 4 year old granddaughter once observed while we were wandering up and down the highway in search of a suitable restaurant. “This is taking forever some more!”)
My fond hope is that you will adopt one or two practices from this treatise and incorporate them into your habitual thinking. In that manner, you become a collaborative author in the expansion of this story ad infinitum, etc. encore, again, “some more.”
Each of us dwells in a box much of our own making. To some it is home to others it is prison. But no matter how confining, there is always a door and always a window or two. All we need is the motivation to move outside. Grand is the vista when you open the windows of God. They take your breath away.
Postscript: You are invited to buy the author a cup of coffee (or something stronger) as encouragement for these writing efforts and subsequent updates. Comments and suggestions welcome. Paypal recipient guyburke@yahoo.com.
PPS: Guy Burke is moving into a new career as freelance professional: Located in Wichita Falls, Texas, he offers writing, time management consulting, software integration, web development, graphics and media production. Inquire via guyburke@yahoo.com or 940-642-0403.
