Photo and Commentary ©2025 by Maylan Schurch
Friday, May 2, 2025
Within this past week, on post-breakfast walks in our neighborhood, I noticed two different approaches to back-yard fence maintenance.
The first you see in the photo above. The fence is old, and there are gaps between the boards, especially toward the right. And it seems as though the entire fence has become so alarmingly rickety that the homeowner has had to desperately patch it with horizontal boards as ratty as the originals.
Now, take a look at another backyard fence:
To me, this is fascinating. Obviously this is a brand-new fence, probably erected by a professional fence company. But what intrigues me is that in replacing his or her own fence (probably formerly as ratty as the other), this homeowner is taking a totally opposite view of what a fence is for. The ratty-fence owner in the top photo seems to have said, “Wow. My fence is falling down. I’ve got to fill in the holes so that nobody can see in, or squeeze in, to my property and privacy.”
The second owner seems to be saying, “Hey, I want my new fence to have a big window in it.” Quite frankly, I don’t know why. This opening is not a gate, but a window — to get through it you’d have to duck your shoulders and lift your legs. So why the window? Is it so people in the backyard can see out onto the rough and rustic and infrequently-traveled trail behind it? Is it an invitation to trail-walkers to look in? As my wife Shelley said, when I showed her this window this past Thursday, “I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Since this is a Photo Parable, here comes the parable part. How open am I to the other people in my life? Am I self-centered, hunched down in my own cocoon, unwilling to open my heart to someone who might need a listening ear, or a prayer? Or am I willing to open a window so that I can see, or be seen, in ways that are eternally helpful?
Why not take a moment to review some Bible wisdom on friendship?